Deadly Exchange (DX) is a project of the left-of-center organization Jewish Voice For Peace (JVP) which seeks to end counter-terrorism training exchanges offered by the Israeli military to U.S. law enforcement officers. DX alleges that “racist, militarized” practices have increased among U.S. police as a result of the training exchange with Israel. ^[1] Its end goal is “demilitarizing, defunding, and eventually abolishing the [U.S.] police.” ^[2] A 2018 DX report claimed that the Israeli response to Palestinian uprisings and the U.S. police response to Black Lives Matter demonstrations are connected through racism and violence. ^[3]

Background

Two of the primary providers of the Israel-U.S. police exchange are the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). ^[4] The exchanges began as early as the 1990s, but increased significantly after the 9/11 attacks. ^[5] They focus on intelligence techniques, the “ideology of suicide bombers and other attackers,” and opportunities for U.S. law enforcement to observe Israel’s military response to terrorist incidents. ^[6]

Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports anti-Israel positions, started Deadly Exchange in 2017 as a campaign to end these programs, which it claimed constituted a “deadly exchange” designed to promote “’worst practices’” between the two groups. ^[7] DX alleges that the militarization of police “grows directly from the soil of American history,” and claims American police were founded on slave patrols in the pre-Civil War era. ^[8]

It supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions of Israel (BDS), an anti-Israel movement which many commentators have criticized. ^[9] JVP claims that the only acceptable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is for Israel to offer Palestinians “return, compensation and/or resettlement” in lands whose ownership has been contested by both sides. ^[10]

Impact

Deadly Exchange operates in several major cities, including Pittsburgh, Seattle, and the District of Columbia. ^{[11] [12] [13]} In 2018 DX succeeded in banning the police force in Durham, North Carolina, from training exchanges with Israel, though Durham police chief C.J. Davis stated he never planned to start such trainings in the first place. ^[14] Similar efforts by DX in Raleigh failed due to pushback from the Jewish North Carolina Coalition for Israel. ^[15]

The following year, DX successfully pressured police chiefs in Vermont and Massachusetts to cancel planned exchange programs with Israel. Its 2020 efforts to pass anti-exchange legislation in Seattle fell short by one vote, which the organization blamed on alleged “Israeli government interference.” ^[16]

The Anti-Defamation League considered ending its exchange program due to the controversy stirred up by DX after the police-custody murder of George Floyd. DX argued that Chauvin’s method of kneeling on the neck was an Israeli technique and evidence that the exchange programs ought to be ended. However, ADL reaffirmed its commitment “’to continue the program” albeit “with updated curriculum and content.” ^[17]

Criticism

In an article for Jewish publication Forward, HSP’s Steven Pomerantz criticized Deadly Exchange for misrepresenting the exchange programs and urged Americans to reject the movement. Pomerantz cited the positives of partnering with Israel, which he says shares similarities with America in its democratic governance and “aggressive free press” and mentioned one police chief who directly credits the exchange programs with his success in solving a hostage situation. ^[18]

The pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs has a history of opposing Jewish Voice for Peace and DX. In 2017, when JVP invited convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh to speak at its annual conference, StandWithUs protested the arrangement. ^[19] Following a 2021 CNN “United Shades of America” episode which cast DX in a positive light, StandWithUs published a statement which described DX as an “antisemitic lie,” and urged CNN to remove the programming from future reruns and archives. ^[20]

The American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) “Translate Hate Glossary” condemned the idea that Israel was responsible for alleged instances of U.S. police brutality as an anti-Semitic falsehood. ^[21]

Despite DX’s narrative on the supposedly deadly connections between the Israeli military and U.S. law enforcement, opponents have offered evidence to the contrary. Louis Dekmar, a police chief in Georgia, took part in an Israel police exchange in 2004. Dekmar learned from the Israeli military how to shoot to incapacitate rather than shooting to kill. He then incorporated what he had learned into training programs for his own officers to reduce police shooting fatalities. ^[22]

Backers

Groups which endorse the DX campaign include the radical-left group Code Pink, as well as American Muslims for Palestine, which the Anti-Defamation League called “the leading organization providing anti-Zionist training.” ^{[23] [24] [25]} Individuals who support DX’s message include Judith Butler, a prominent Berkeley professor of comparative literature who was among the first Americans to support the BDS campaign in the U.S. ^[26] Butler also sits on JVP‘s advisory board. ^[27]

Leadership

Stephanie Fox works as the executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace. She was appointed in 2018 after over a decade at JVP. ^[28] Fox is known for her stance against Israel’s government, which she describes as “Apartheid.” She has correlated ICE’s actions at the Mexican border to Israel’s counter-terrorism response based on broadly used crowd control techniques such as teargassing. ^[29]

Eran Efrati works as the director of campaigns and partnerships at JVP. ^[30] He is also the executive director of Researching the American-Israeli Alliance (RAIA), a partner group which promotes anti-Israel narratives. ^{[31] [32]}

Financials

Jewish Voice for Peace, the parent group of Deadly Exchange, reported annual revenues of $3.3 million as of 2020. ^[33] JVP receives consistent funding from major left-of-center donors such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which has awarded JVP over $480,000 since 2017. ^[34] The Tides Foundation, which has been criticized as a “dark money” group, also donates to JVP. ^{[35] [36]}