The New York Police Department’s ties to the Israel Defense Forces and other Israeli security agencies run through two main channels: privately funded training trips that have sent NYPD commissioners and commanders to Israel since 2002, and a permanent NYPD detective stationed at an Israeli police facility near Tel Aviv since 2007. Both arrangements grew out of the department’s post-September 11 counterterrorism push, and both have drawn sustained criticism from civil rights and human rights groups who link them to surveillance programs that targeted Muslim New Yorkers.
How the Training Relationship Works
Three private organizations have run the bulk of the trips: the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange.1Reveal News. US Police Get Antiterror Training in Israel on Privately Funded Trips They cover the costs, so participating departments pay nothing.
JINSA’s Homeland Security Program has sent more than 200 senior law enforcement executives to Israel and hosted ten domestic conferences drawing over 10,500 attendees. Participants have come from the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Capitol Police, and police departments including Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Houston.2JINSA. Homeland Security Program The ADL’s invitation-only Leadership Seminar in Israel ran from 1987 to 2019 and included leaders from more than 200 federal, state, and local agencies. The ADL has stated that its seminars did not include training on physical tactics.3ADL. Responding to Questions About ADL’s Law Enforcement Leadership Seminars in Israel
The NYPD has been a participant from the beginning. The department sent representatives to the first post-9/11 program, and former commissioners Ray Kelly, William Bratton, and James O’Neill have all either traveled or sent officers; O’Neill joined a ten-day JINSA delegation in 2015.4Deadly Exchange. Participant Profiles
What Officers See and Study
The curriculum centers on counterterrorism and intelligence. Participants receive briefings from the Israel National Police, the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet, and in some programs Palestinian law enforcement officials. Topics include preventing and responding to terrorist attacks and suicide bombings, transit infrastructure security, and the evolution of terrorist tactics.1Reveal News. US Police Get Antiterror Training in Israel on Privately Funded Trips
Delegations also tour military facilities, surveillance installations, and West Bank border checkpoints. They watch demonstrations of crowd-control equipment, including tear gas canisters, stun grenades, and long-range acoustic devices, and review footage of Israeli responses to protests alongside discussions of riot and demonstration tactics.1Reveal News. US Police Get Antiterror Training in Israel on Privately Funded Trips A delegation of 32 New York-area law enforcement officials, including high-ranking NYPD members, was in Israel for counterterrorism training when Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 attacks. The group was 20 miles from the Gaza border, sheltered in place, and evacuated safely the next day.5New York Post. NYPD Brass Part of Delegation in Israel When Hamas Launched Surprise Attack
The Permanent NYPD Detective in Israel
Beyond the trips, the NYPD keeps a detective stationed in Israel full-time. The posting is part of the International Liaison Program, created after September 11, which places NYPD officers in cities worldwide to gather intelligence on threats that could reach New York. The Israel post has operated since 2007 and was held for 18 years by Detective Charlie Benaim, who worked out of an Israeli police station near Tel Aviv and reported to the deputy commissioner of counterterrorism.6ABC7 New York. Unique Team: NYPD Protects New Yorkers Around the Globe
Benaim was removed from the post and returned to the United States in late 2025. The NYPD declined to explain why, but a spokesperson said the position would be refilled. The overall liaison program had 18 officers in 14 locations at that point.7New York Post. Israel Liaison Post Will Be Filled With New Detective, NYPD
Taxpayers do not fund the overseas program. It runs on money from the New York City Police Foundation, a private nonprofit, a point former Commissioner Kelly confirmed in 2012. The foundation’s donors include major financial institutions and, in at least one instance, a foreign government: the United Arab Emirates gave $1 million in 2012 that was not disclosed on the foundation’s public donor listings and was never reported under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The Brennan Center for Justice has argued that using private and foreign funds for core intelligence functions raises “serious operational and legal questions” and undermines public accountability.8The Intercept. Documents Suggest UAE Funding NYPD Intelligence Operations
The Demographics Unit and the Lawsuits That Followed
The most concrete domestic consequence critics tie to the relationship is the NYPD’s Demographics Unit, which placed informants and undercover officers in Muslim mosques, schools, restaurants, and businesses. The unit was developed with the help of a CIA official, Lawrence Sanchez, who according to the Deadly Exchange campaign acknowledged that the program was partly modeled on how Israeli authorities operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The unit’s chief, Thomas Galati, later told investigators that the surveillance program produced no leads.4Deadly Exchange. Participant Profiles
The unit was renamed the Zone Assessment Unit and then disbanded in April 2014 by Commissioner Bratton, who said it had been largely inactive for months.9The New York Times. Police Unit That Spied on Muslims Is Disbanded Its tactics produced multiple federal lawsuits. In 2018, the NYPD settled one of them, Hassan v. City of New York, agreeing to pay $75,000 in damages without admitting wrongdoing. The settlement required the department to revise its intelligence-gathering policies, bring Muslim community leaders into the drafting of new guidelines, and refrain from “suspicionless” surveillance based on religion or ethnicity. Federal courts approved settlements in two related lawsuits as well.10CNN. NYPD Muslim Surveillance Settlement
Why Civil Rights Groups Object
A coalition of groups has pushed to end the training exchanges. The most prominent effort is the Deadly Exchange campaign, launched in 2017 by Jewish Voice for Peace. The campaign argues that the programs facilitate a “two-way exchange of worst practices” between American police and Israeli security forces, promoting racial profiling, mass surveillance, and the suppression of protest.11Deadly Exchange. Deadly Exchange The campaign has also stated that American police racism is rooted in the history of U.S. slave patrols and systemic anti-Black racism, and that characterizing Israel as its source can be “antisemitic” and “harmful.”
Amnesty International has criticized the partnerships on human rights grounds, arguing that Israeli forces have been documented engaging in extrajudicial killings, torture, suppression of peaceful protest, and surveillance used to repress civil society. The organization has said U.S. departments should seek training partners focused on de-escalation and constitutional rights, concluding that “Israel is not such a partner.”12Amnesty International USA. With Whom Are Many US Police Departments Training? With a Chronic Human Rights Violator: Israel
The campaign’s most visible legislative win came in April 2018, when the Durham, North Carolina, City Council voted unanimously to ban its police department from military-style training with foreign militaries. Durham’s police chief noted at the time that the department had no ongoing or planned exchanges with Israel.13Al Jazeera. Durham First US City to Ban Police Training With Israeli Military Vermont state police cancelled a planned training trip to Israel the same year after local pressure.14Al Jazeera. How the US and Israel Exchange Tactics in Violence and Control
How the Relationship Became a Mayoral Issue
The ties became a flashpoint in the 2025 New York City mayoral race because of Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblymember and democratic socialist who emerged as the frontrunner. At a 2023 Democratic Socialists of America convention panel, Mamdani told the audience: “We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.” He urged activists to make the Israel-Palestine conflict “hyper-local” by connecting it to “capitalist interests over here.”15Times of Israel. Mamdani in 2023 Blamed Israel for Police Violence in NY
A video clip of the remarks resurfaced in late October 2025 and drew more than three million views on social media within a day.16CBS News New York. Zohran Mamdani NYPD IDF Video Clip ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt called the statement “twisted fear mongering and conspiratorial thinking” and labeled it antisemitic.15Times of Israel. Mamdani in 2023 Blamed Israel for Police Violence in NY More than 1,100 rabbis and Jewish leaders signed an open letter calling on Americans to “stand up for candidates who reject antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric,” and Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove said publicly that Mamdani posed “a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community.”17CNN. Zohran Mamdani and the Jewish Vote
Mamdani walked the remark back. Asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper whether he still believed the NYPD and IDF were working “hand in glove,” he answered: “No. What I’ve made very clear is those are training exercises that are of concern to me.”18CNN. Zohran Mamdani NYPD IDF Video His campaign said his “position on the NYPD has evolved.” He renounced earlier calls to defund the police, apologized for past anti-NYPD comments during a Fox News interview, and committed to retaining NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.19Politico. Zohran Mamdani’s Meteoric Candidacy Is Deeply Polarizing New York
He won the election on November 4, 2025, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. With about 60 percent of the vote reported, he led with 50 percent to Cuomo’s 42 and Sliwa’s 8, becoming the city’s youngest mayor in over a century.20PBS NewsHour. Zohran Mamdani’s Election Night Watch Party21ABC News. New York City 2025 Mayoral Election Results As of the available reporting, Mamdani has taken no publicly announced action specifically addressing the NYPD’s training exchanges with Israel or its liaison post there.