As concerned members and organizations of Raleigh’s community committed to peace and justice from Raleigh to Palestine, we’re calling on Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and Raleigh City council to end any and all police exchanges or partnerships between the Raleigh Police Department (RPD) and the Israeli Security Force (military, police, and border patrol).

US law enforcement agencies travel to Israel each year to learn and train in Israeli military practices that have a widespread history of lethal force, mass surveillance and racial profiling. Israeli police actively use these practices against the Palestinian people in their illegal Occupation of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights. These tactics further militarize U.S. law enforcement that train in Israel, and this training helps the police terrorize Black and Brown communities here in the US. Additionally, such practices erode our constitutional rights to due process, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly.

Policing in the US has a long history of violence and harm against Black and Brown communities, and the RPD is no exception:

• From the occupation of Southeast Raleigh

• RPD Detectives framing innocent people

• Surveillance and over policing of immigrant neighborhoods

• Police murders of Black, Brown, and disabled people

Militarization of Raleigh police already endangers our communities. Training police in Israel exacerbates this ongoing harm.

These trainings have directly affected Black and Brown North Carolinians in Raleigh ever since Raleigh PD’s police chief, Cassandra Deck-Brown, participated in a training program in Israel. In a foundational move toward justice and safety, Durham became the first U.S. city to end all involvement of the Durham PD with Israeli military and security forces. We want Raleigh to be next.

We call on you to end any and all ties between RPD and Israeli military, police, and border patrol, including but not limited to:

● Anti-Defamation League Counter-Terrorism Seminar

● Anti-Defamation League Advanced Training School

● Any exchange program between the RPD and the IDF

● Any exchange program between the RPD and the Israeli Police.

● Any exchange program between the RPD and the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA)

● Any exchange program between the RPD and the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE)

In support of justice and peace, in line with what our neighbors have accomplished two years ago, and in protection of Raleigh’s Black and Brown Residents from militarized police, we demand that Raleigh PD never engages in such exchanges with Israel or any other foreign military. You have a responsibility to take a stance today and to protect our city’s own residents from all forms of police terror. Divest from war and occupation, from Raleigh to Palestine! Divest from racism and militarization -- invest in Black and Brown communities!