“There is no procedure that allows an officer of the Israel Police to carry out an arrest by placing a knee on the neck of a suspect,” Israel Police national spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Jerusalem Post.
“There is no police counterrorism training in the Israel national police force to foreign law enforcement officers that involves such a measure,” he continued. “It does not exist in any police text book.”
Rosenfeld’s comments come after the UK website Morning Star published an article accusing Israel of training the cops responsible for the death of George Floyd.
“Officers from the US police force responsible for the killing of George Floyd received training in restraint techniques and anti-terror tactics from Israeli law-enforcement officers,” the author wrote.
Floyd, an African-American, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. The officer placed his knee into Floyd’s neck to restrain him, which ultimately took his life. A video of the death shows Floyd pleading, “I can’t breathe.”
After the Morning Star publication, related rumors started swarming on social media.
Rosenfeld, who served in the Police counterterrorism unit for a decade, said that “there is no direct connection” between the Israel Police and the cops who allegedly killed Floyd, and that to his knowledge they had not been in Israel for any training. “The BDS movement is continuing to distort facts. Police only use necessary measures and not the use of force that is prohibited,'” he stressed.
On the other hand, he explained that for years delegations of police officers from the United States and Europe have come to Israel for counterterrorism training.
“There have been so many terror attacks here that have taken place and a lot can be learned,” he told the Post. But he said officers are trained in Krav Maga techniques, a system of tactical mixed martial art, combat and self-defense.
“The organizations that are calling out specifically in the US against law enforcement learning and sharing are weakening the nation’s preparedness to respond to terror attacks, hate crimes and extremists who break the law,” Rosenfeld said. “Learning and sharing have saved many lives.”
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