17 July 2020
Dear readers,
We have made a correction to this video entitled Keir Starmer Unmasked, first published on 26 June 2020. You can now watch the updated version.
Specifically, in the original video, Kerry-Anne Mendoza says: “…Israeli occupation forces have for a long time been training US police forces in the kind of tactics that led to George Floyd being killed, namely the knee on the neck. This is well-established fact.”
We were alerted by a reader to the possibility that this may be understood as a claim that the knee on the neck technique, specifically, was taught to the officers involved. In fact, that is not the intended message and we apologise for the confusion – the video has been edited accordingly.
We thought it would also be helpful to lay out exactly what we do know, from evidence, about the relationship between Israeli forces and US police.
We know that:
- A number of US police forces have been trained by Israeli forces since at least 1997. The NYPD has even opened a branch within an Israeli police force.
- The Minneapolis police have participated in training delivered by Israeli forces.
- Israeli forces use the knee on the neck technique and at least one of the organisations delivering this type of training does teach it (and they also refer to their curriculum as following that of the Israeli security forces and special units).
- The website ‘IsraellyCool’ makes a veiled admission that the training would have included such restraint techniques, saying “Clearly, George Floyd was no terrorist, and nothing any police officer learned in such a training session should have been used in the way it was.”
We don’t know:
- If the officers involved with George Floyd’s death either attended the training sessions or were trained by others who did.
- If the training delivered to Minneapolis police, or any other force, included the knee on the neck technique.
Ultimately, we must look at the many and varied human rights violations by the state of Israel and ask why the USA and its state police forces are willing to support it. Furthermore, we must question the fact that they are using practices just as egregious. Sadly, we needn’t be surprised that a tragedy such as the death of George Floyd has occurred under these circumstances.
Yours, in solidarity,
The Canary team
