Activists voice concern over Bloomberg's Israel mayoral training programme
Pro-Palestine activists have voiced concern over former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new centre in Israel that trains the country's mayors, claiming the $9m initiative is whitewashing Israel's "system of apartheid" and could be used to increase surveillance against Palestinians.
The Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership was inaugurated on Sunday at Tel Aviv University and will provide training to 20 mayors from across Israel, with a focus on using data in governance, engaging the public, crisis management and negotiation.
The new initiative is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sagol family, one of Israel's wealthiest industrialist families.
"Israel has always been an inspiration due to its fortitude and the resolve you continue to show in the face of terror," Bloomberg said at the launch event, referencing a series of attacks that claimed the lives of 11 Israeli civilians last month.
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"In New York, we are in tremendous gratitude to all those countries who stood by us and helped after 9/11, especially Israel, and one small way we can repay the debt is by replicating the programme that has been phenomenally successful in the United States."
'This is simply an extension of the deadly exchange, just as US police and military collaborate with Israeli security annually'
- Ayah Ziyadeh, American Muslims for Palestine
Several pro-Palestinian groups criticised the programme, saying it was a continuation of exchanges between US and Israeli authorities that ultimately upholds systems and policies that subject Palestinians to heightened surveillance.
"This is simply an extension of the deadly exchange, just as US police and military collaborate with Israeli security annually, Americans such as Mayor Bloomberg, directly and indirectly, prop up a system of apartheid and oppression rather than addressing egregious human rights violations," Ayah Ziyadeh, advocacy director at American Muslims for Palestine, told Middle East Eye.
Palestinians living under Israeli occupation find themselves living under constant surveillance, including being subject to military checkpoints and restrictions of movement, cameras that track them, and according to a recent revelation last November, being subject to the Blue Wolf facial recognition technology.
Israeli mayoral staff have also previously been caught on camera threatening and mocking Palestinian citizens, including last year when Jerusalem's deputy mayor made threatening comments to a Palestinian man.
Several years ago, an Israeli mayor stormed into a mosque in the town of Lydd (Lod) to try and stop the call to prayer and Eid al-Adha prayers through its speakers.
Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, told MEE that by allowing the mayors of West Bank settlements to participate, the programme only continues to make the case that Israel "is an apartheid system with no division between the lines for Israelis, but clearly divisions in the lines for Palestinians".
Several human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have concluded that Israel's treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid. Israel, however, has repeatedly rejected these reports.
Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to MEE's request for comment about the mayor training programme.
Bloomberg's legacy of surveillance
The new initiative comes amid a wave of attacks in Israel, the latest of which came last week when a Palestinian gunman killed five people in a shooting in Bnei Brak, Tel Aviv.
Palestinians have condemned the attacks and feel they have been targeted by a heavy-handed arrest campaign and threats from far-right groups in the wake of the attacks.
The former New York City mayor, billionaire businessman, and 2020 presidential candidate highlighted the issue of terrorism, saying it "underscores the urgency of this new initiative".
However, Bloomberg's own response to the 9/11 attacks was met with heavy criticism, and he had a troubled history with Muslim and Arab communities during his time as mayor.
'It's clear that Michael Bloomberg himself has nothing to offer that is productive'
- Ahmad Abuznaid, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
He was elected mayor of New York City shortly after the 9/11 attacks. And at that time, the police department under his watch created a "demographics unit" which mapped out the Muslim community and deployed undercover agents to monitor mosques, restaurants and community gatherings.
Law enforcement officials even infiltrated Muslim student organisations and extended their spying operations to the suburbs of New Jersey.
He also initiated a "stop and frisk" programme that targeted communities of colour.
While he eventually apologised for "stop and frisk", he had previously defended the spying programme, saying it was "the right thing to do". The programme did not lead to any known terror-related arrests.
"With Bloomberg's record, not only through support of surveillance technology but also stop and frisk and heavy-handed policing - broken windows policing - it's clear that Michael Bloomberg himself has nothing to offer that is productive," Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, told MEE.
"That's based on the perspective of a Palestinian who is thinking through the challenges that the Palestinian minority already faces within Israel and what may lie ahead in the near future."
'Legitimising discriminatory structures'
The new centre, which has been in development since 2018, is the Israeli version of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative that provides training to American mayors at Harvard University.
The centre hopes to engage mayors across Israel and will also include the mayors of large Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are deemed illegal by international law.
Chris Habiby, the legislative and policy coordinator for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told MEE that Bloomberg's domestic programme has had a positive impact on mayors in the US but the "newly announced Israeli initiative appears to do just the opposite".
"Similar to the ADL [Anti-Defamation League]'s law enforcement leadership seminars, this initiative legitimises discriminatory structures and practices by focusing on security as both a motivating factor and area of particular importance," Habiby said.
The close relationship between Israel and the US has often extended beyond the government-to-government level, and for decades local police forces in the US have participated in exchange programmes with Israel where they receive security training.
Since the early 1990s, hundreds of law enforcement officers have either been sent to Israel through police exchanges or attended summits within the US that were sponsored by Israeli lobby organisations.
Leading human rights groups have denounced the exchange programmes, warning that Israeli police standards and tactics only serve to exacerbate racial profiling and police brutality in the US.
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