When counterterrorism tactics meet small-town policing, who wins?

NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA — If you thought your local police academy was intense, try the Israeli military version—now available in your own backyard.

Private security companies staffed by Israeli military veterans have been running tactical training programs across northeastern Pennsylvania, teaching everyone from SWAT teams to synagogue-goers the finer points of Krav Maga, tactical firearms, and what one instructor calls “neutralizing threats.”

From the West Bank to Bucks County

The Cherev Gidon Israeli Tactical Training Academy has been operating in northeastern Pennsylvania for five years, founded by Yossi Stern, a former IDF Netzach Yehuda Battalion member who apparently looked at American security training and thought, “I can do better.”

The academy exploded into the national spotlight in October 2018 after the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, when it was suddenly “bombarded” with hundreds of inquiries. Stern’s pitch was direct: “I want to have Jews armed in their synagogues and trained, so that if they see a terrorist or an anti-Semite walking in with a weapon, they’ll know how to neutralize that threat.”

Fair enough for civilian self-defense. But things get more complicated when taxpayer money enters the picture.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

In Bucks County, state legislators greenlit $300,000 to bring “Combat Anti-Terror Training the Israeli Way” to 120 local officers through Total Security International—a private firm staffed by Israeli security veterans. The program trained SWAT teams alongside school resource officers and regular patrol cops.

County officials were enthusiastic: “There are no better than the Israeli military and special forces of Israel to come and teach this to us local law enforcement,” one stated. “Every single day, they live with this, and we’re lucky that we don’t.”

Critics wonder: are we really that unlucky?

A National Trend Nobody’s Talking About

Pennsylvania isn’t unique. Since 2002, three major pro-Israel organizations have bankrolled trips for American police chiefs to train in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of officers from states coast-to-coast have made the pilgrimage.

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs alone has trained over 10,500 American law enforcement personnel. The NYPD even opened its own office in Israel in 2012. The Department of Homeland Security followed suit in 2003.

That’s not a training program—it’s an infrastructure.

When Things Go Wrong

Here’s where it gets uncomfortable. In 2016, the Department of Justice eviscerated the Baltimore Police Department for “widespread constitutional violations” and tactics that “escalate encounters and stifle public cooperation.” Baltimore cops had received Israeli training in crowd control and use of force.

In Minneapolis, at least 100 officers—including some from the department that employed Derek Chauvin—attended a 2012 conference where Israeli forces taught “restraint techniques.” George Floyd died in 2020 under a Minneapolis officer’s knee for nine minutes and 29 seconds.

Correlation isn’t causation, but it’s certainly awkward timing.

Human rights organizations have documented Israeli security forces engaging in extrajudicial killings, torture of minors, and excessive force against peaceful protesters. Amnesty International notes that Israeli policing is “deeply intertwined with its role as an occupying force”—a context defined by surveillance, control, and viewing entire populations as security threats.

“The inherent racism of Israeli society, in which every Palestinian is viewed as a potential threat, is replicated by white law enforcement officers in their views about Black Americans, Muslims, and other minority groups,” one analysis concluded.

The Counterargument

Supporters insist critics are missing the point. Israel faces genuine daily security threats that have produced world-class expertise in threat assessment, active shooter response, and protecting soft targets—all increasingly relevant in America.

The training, they argue, focuses on defensive tactics and prevention, not offensive military operations. Jewish communities, particularly after Pittsburgh, have legitimate security concerns that traditional police protection doesn’t always address.

And honestly, who better to teach counter-terrorism than people who wrote the playbook?

The Bottom Line

The real question isn’t whether Israeli security forces are effective—they clearly are. It’s whether tactics developed for military occupation translate appropriately to constitutional policing in a democracy.

Checkpoints, viewing entire populations with suspicion, and operating in occupied territory aren’t exactly the ideal training ground for officers who are supposed to serve and protect American communities. There’s a difference between protecting civilians and controlling a hostile population.

When Bucks County officials say Israelis “live with this every single day and we’re lucky that we don’t,” they’re accidentally making the critics’ point. We are lucky we don’t live in a militarized security state. The question is whether we want to import the mindset of one.

As these programs expand with $300,000 price tags and minimal oversight, perhaps it’s worth asking: Is this really the model we want for American policing? And if Israeli tactics are the answer, what exactly was the question?

Because teaching American cops to think like occupying forces seems like a solution in search of a problem—or worse, a solution that creates the very problem it claims to solve.