As Israel continues to carry out its genocide and ethnic cleansing against Palestinian people, millions of voices everywhere have risen to condemn and try to halt its actions. While many nations are making moves to boycott or sanction Israel, Oklahoma is seeking to strengthen its ties to this genocidal nation through an Oklahoma-Israel Exchange Commission. Currently, there is an Oklahoma-Israel Exchange organization that was first established in 1992 under Governor Walters. There will now be an additional state-run commission as of June 14th, 2024, after Governor Stitt signed Senate Bill 729. This new commission is different from the already existing Oklahoma-Israel Exchange (OKIE), in that the commission members are appointed by the State, and the commission is written in the law to be located in Jerusalem. The commission’s aim is to “foster enhanced cooperation and partnerships between Israel and Oklahoma”. This is different from OKIE in that it creates stronger governmental ties between Oklahoma and Israel. The re-establishment of the exchange commission is not only immoral and shameful, but it is also a concern for the safety of Oklahomans. An exchange of technologies with Israel could lead to increased discrimination, surveillance, and police brutality.
The Deadly Exchange, a report analyzing the relationship between Israeli soldiers and American police, found many similarities between these two organizations. This report found that Israeli military technology and techniques have been imported into the United States and employed in harmful and discriminatory ways. One of such technologies is called Skunk, a repugnant liquid sprayed on peaceful protesters to dispel crowds. The smell of this liquid stays for days and causes severe nausea and skin irritation. This technology was sprayed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Palestinian protesters as well as in Palestinian neighborhoods and schools as a form of collective punishment. This technology and others like it are now being purchased by government entities in the United States, boosting Israel’s economy and pushing America closer to being a militarized state.
Throughout the United States, American police have trained with IOF soldiers, learning their discriminatory and invasive methods of surveillance and violence. Both groups have an explicit or implicit bias against Arab, Muslim, and Black communities, viewing them as automatically suspicious people dangerous to Whites. In the Deadly Exchange Report, the similarities between these two institutions can be seen in their handling of peaceful protesters fighting for issues of social justice. Both American law enforcement and the IOF use tear gas and pepper spray, as well as shoot rubber bullets at protesters. In Israel, such tactics are used against civilians in the occupied West Bank, and live ammunition was used against Gazans peacefully protesting in 2018 in an event that killed 166 people and injured more than 16,000. The tactics used against West Bank civilians were used here against Black Lives Matter protesters and currently are leveraged against Pro-Palestine protesters. Ethiopian citizens in Israel who launched their own Black Lives Matter movement were met with similar violence, further highlighting Israel as a white supremacist state – a notion fully present here in the United States, with rampant hate crimes as well as discriminatory use of police force against Black and brown communities.
The Oklahoma-Israel Exchange Commission is not the only commission of its kind in America. Similar exchange commissions have been established in 21 other states, including California, Texas, and Georgia. Activists fighting to abolish the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, or GILEE, have strongly noted the effect such exchanges with Israel have had on Black and Brown communities. The most significant effect is one that sparked the Black Lives Matter Movement: the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The “knee-on-neck” technique used to murder George Floyd was taught to Minneapolis police through the GILEE program with Israel. This technique is widely used by IOF soldiers to brutally suppress Palestinians, and now has made its own devastating impact in the United States.
The writers of Deadly Exchange note that it is not that these interactions with Israel are turning America into a militarized and discriminatory states. Both America and Israel already share these traits in their treatment of their citizens. However, these exchanges are aggravating deeply rooted issues, strengthening the police’s perception that minorities are dangerous, and providing them with new tools to act on those perceptions. Any exchange with Israel is to be condemned for its support of massacres and violence against the Palestinian people, but the Oklahoma-Israel Exchange Commission is an issue also relevant to the safety and liberty of Oklahomans. Freedom of speech is slipping away, and we must race to keep it here before we feel its effects too late.