North Carolina city bans any training with Israel police or IDF

Durham, North Carolina, has become the first city in the United States to ban training and exchanges between the city’s police department and the Israeli military.

Durham City Council unanimously voted 6-0 to adopt the policy that resulted from a petition by a coalition of activist groups called Demilitarize! From Durham2Palestine which includes Jewish Voice for Peace. The petition to ban any partnership the police might have with the IDF or Israeli police garnered close to 1,400 signatures.

“The Israeli Defense Forces and the Israel Police have a long history of violence and harm against Palestinian people and Jews of Color,” read the petition. “They persist in using tactics of extrajudicial killing, excessive force, racial profiling and repression of social justice movements. Such tactics have been condemned by international human rights organizations for violating the human rights of Palestinians.”

“These tactics further militarize US police forces that train in Israel, and this training helps the police terrorize Black and Brown communities here in the US,” it added.

Opponents said the ban was antisemitic, as it vilified and singled out Israel. According to local media, The Fraternal Order of Police lodge opposed the ban, writing to the city council that it “serves to push the anti-police agenda.” Durham city council also received pushback from the Anti-Defamation League, local rabbis and local Jewish groups.

According to a statement released by the Durham City Council after the passing of the resolution, the ban would not only apply to Israel but to any country that would offer military-style training “since such exchanges do not support the kind of policing we want here in the City of Durham.”

Former Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez was reported by local WRAL-TV as having spent a week in Israel undergoing training with Israel police and that two of his commanders were sent to Washington DC to receiving training from Israel police.

“None of the training had anything to do with militarization,” Lopez was quoted as saying. “It was about leadership, it was learning about terrorism and then learning about how to interact with people who are involved in mass casualty situations and how to manage mass casualty situations.”

In a statement to the city council, Durham Chief of Police Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said that since she started her role, “there has been no effort to initiate or participate in any exchange to Israel, nor do I have any intention to do so.”