In partnership with over a dozen allied organizations, Occupation Free DC and Jewish Voice for Peace—DC Metro (“JVP DC”) have released a petition and campaign video, building on a campaign platform which calls on MPD Chief Newsham and the DC Council to cease local participation in training exercises with discriminatory trainers, like Israel’s police and military, which violate DC's Human Rights Act.
Read MoreDuring the ADL's annual Concert Against Hate at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, JVP members and supporters distributed leaflets that described the impact of the Deadly Exchange programs the ADL organizes between US and Israeli police. JVP - DC Metro called on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to stop sponsoring the U.S. police “counter-terrorism” trainings with Israeli military, police, and intelligence officials. Many attendees welcomed the leaflets and expressed interest in the concerns raised about the ADL’S police exchange program.
Read MoreAfter JVP - DC Metro's successful FOIA request that proved key police officers in DC are participating in the ADL's National Counter Terrorism Seminars in Israel, and local DC Councilmember David Grosso's letter of rebuke to Police Chief Peter Newsham about the trainings, The Intercept published an article detailing the #DeadlyExchange programs in DC and across the country.
Read MoreIn response to JVP - DC Metro's successful FOIA request, which exposed that a MPD Commander would be traveling to train in Israel that same week, Councilmember-at-Large David Grosso wrote a powerful letter to Chief of Police Peter Newsham stating his opposition to the training, both as an example of police militarization and due to “documented human rights violations by Israeli police and security forces.
Read MoreIn August, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out when D.C. Metropolitan Police (MPD) officers had trained with Israeli forces. We received a response on September 1st that informed us that one Commander would be traveling to train in Israel that same week. Through subsequent FOIA requests we learned that MPD has no internal policy to implement their own regulation prohibiting training in facilities that practices invidious discrimination in violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act. We have never received a satisfactory answer as to why the people who live and work in D.C. should have to file a Freedom of Information Act request to learn that the people who supposedly serve and protect the public are training with an occupying army.
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