The pro-Israeli lobby in the United States continues to silence, discredit, and corner a range of pro-Palestinian voices that refuse to condone Israeli Gaza genocide. Widespread crackdowns are visible across major academic institutions, in the systemic targeting of independent Palestinian rights organizations, and Congress’ blanket support for pro-Israeli donor strategies that fuel suppression.

Leaked internal police files confirm that this is simply the tip of the iceberg. For decades, US law enforcement agencies have been receiving purported “intelligence” directly from Israeli occupation forces on events concerning the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The U.S. has used occupation perspectives to aid profiling and surveillance of pro-Palestinian activists on social media, and leveraged pro-Israeli groups for training on domestic ‘Muslim extremists.’

A Guardian analysis of documents from BlueLeaks makes clear that narratives and information from sources such as U.S. Muslim community groups were absent. This demonstrates the extent of pro-Israeli propaganda and prejudice weighing in on Palestinian voices and their treatment within U.S. borders. “It’s frustrating that we’ve developed this national law enforcement intelligence-sharing network that basically takes disinformation straight from the rightwing social media fever swamps and puts it out under the imprimatur of law enforcement intelligence, so it becomes an amplifier of disinformation rather than a corrective to that disinformation,” said Mike German, former FBI undercover agent.

The myth of credible U.S. policing towards Palestinians and pro-rights voices stands effectively shattered. Washington has willingly accepted Israeli non-profits, lobby groups, and the IOF as key sources of influence to inform its treatment of pro-Palestinian activists and Muslims at-large. Surveillance of pro-Palestinian voices across social media serves the interests of the occupation, helping it focus unwarranted scrutiny on those who resist the Israeli occupation, its war crimes, and leverage freedom of speech to power. Meanwhile, pro-Israeli activists were not subject to any specific scrutiny from the same law enforcement personnel, making it clear that the goal is to encroach upon the liberties of Palestinians and those who stand up to the illegal occupation.

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It is an established fact that U.S. inaction has contributed to Israeli brazen assault on Palestinians in Gaza, its open massacres, murders of displaced people, and its ongoing bombardment spree. America’s blockage of a UNSC imperative for a ceasefire is the latest example of protecting occupation atrocities to effectively greenlight further Palestinian bloodshed. But as the leaked documents show, U.S. facilitation is decades old and runs rampant within its own borders. After all, U.S. law enforcement could have rejected intelligence sourcing from Israeli occupation assets to ensure its apparatus was free of external maneuvering. Such a choice would’ve meant the U.S. was unwilling to provide an open field for pro-Israeli lobbyists to use its law enforcement apparatus as a cover to amplify anti-Palestinian disinformation and influence how America ought to treat Muslims.

None of this happened. In reality, the U.S. decided to give pro-Israeli interests center stage. It welcomed IOF’s misleading accounts on the situation on Gaza and the West Bank, which were silent on the occupation’s long history of land theft, extrajudicial killings, and illegal settlements. Moreover, U.S. law enforcement agencies have openly embraced pro-Israeli think tanks with direct links to the occupation, strengthening those relationships and helping the occupation deflect true evidence that exposes Israeli anti-Palestine disinformation. Notorious pro-Israeli lobby group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was at the center all along.

Who other than the U.S. authorized ADL-sponsored programs to inform law enforcement approaches towards extremism, hate crimes and counter-terrorism in the U.S.? ADL is a pro-occupation lobby group that has a long history of discrediting pro-Palestinian activists, justifying Israel’s colonial aggression, and overlooking occupation atrocities against scores of Palestinians. 

The menace of extremism and terrorism demands a highly impartial, unprejudiced, sensitive and fair view of ensuring justice from law enforcement agencies. Muslim communities have suffered immensely from false equivalences between terrorism and their identity, even in popular media. And yet, Washington’s approval for greater alignment with controversial lobby groups on that very issue indicates little course correction and a damaging variant of good law enforcement practice. ADL has overlooked Israeli regime-sponsored terrorism against Palestinian civilians for years, and yet is cited in the leaked documents as an “authority” on extremism and terrorism. Meanwhile, Muslim community groups that are representative voices of their people were barely consulted on matters concerning Muslims. 

The extent of pro-Israeli penetration in U.S. law enforcement agencies makes the question of justice for Palestinians paramount. Those subject to hate crimes, gun violence, crackdowns on U.S. campuses, disproportionate social media profiling, arbitrary bans and restrictions on expression find little solace in a law enforcement apparatus that consumes pro-Israeli perspectives as evidence. 

The ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza has further reinforced Washington’s cold indifference towards the massacre of Palestinian civilians and their livelihoods. For Washington, supporting the occupation takes precedence over justice. Just like accommodating pro-Israeli interests in its law enforcement practices for decades.