Darya Farivar, a Washington state representative, sought at a Jan. 13 public hearing to frame a bill, which would block state law enforcement from training with “any foreign country’s military forces, intelligence agencies or security services,” as something other than an effort to boycott Israel.
The proposed legislation, House Bill 2293, is really about blocking civilian law enforcement from training with militaries, the Democrat, who is one of the bill’s sponsors, said at the hearing.
Dan Griffey, a Republican Washington state representative, said at the hearing that U.S. officials send “a lot of their counterterrorism people to Israel” to train, “because Israelis do that pretty much better than anybody in the world.”
“If we prohibited our Washingtonian law enforcement to go to get the best training in the world, don’t you think that that might be a risk?” he asked Farivar.
Farivar responded that she wants local police to be “working in our communities every day” and doesn’t believe training for that “includes foreign military.”
“Is this specific to Israel?” asked Jenny Graham, a Republican state representative.
Farivar responded “no.”
A Seattle native, the Democrat notes in her official biography that she is “very proud of her ethnic heritage and is excited to lead as the first Middle Eastern woman and first Iranian American woman elected to the Washington State Legislature.”
She has been very outspoken against the Iranian regime, posted in support of Israel and called for the hostages to be released soon after the Oct. 7 attacks and has referred to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), one of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress, “one of my political heroes.”
Her support for the Iranian people has also included referring to them being “met with brutality from their own government, bombs from Israel and the United States” and “being “vilified by the West.”
Farivar said at the meeting that Canada and Mexico would be exempted from the bill.
“We allow some countries but not other countries, and to me that is something that I find problematic,” Graham, one of the Republicans, said.
She called “krav maga,” hand-to-hand combat training with Israel, “invaluable” to local law enforcement.
“Why would we ever want to take another tool away from them in regards to this training that may stop them from using a firearm?” Graham said.
Farivar said that she worries about the “militarization of law enforcement, especially in communities of color.” She added that training with foreign militaries “might exacerbate the problem.” (JNS sought comment from Farivar.)
James McMahan, policy director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, opposed the bill in his testimony at the hearing and noted that Seattle will host the FIFA World Cup this year.
“There’s all kinds of intelligence we’ve considered in this long-ranging process, and if any of us think we shouldn’t have spoken to other countries who’ve hosted World Cup games to not have to relearn the lessons that they’ve learned, what kind of threats typically come, we’re simply not doing our job,” he said.
“Washington hosts foreign dignitaries” and coordinates with foreign security services on their protection, he added.
Steven Pomerantz, director emeritus of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America’s homeland security program, told JNS the movement to “end the deadly exchange” has come up in other parts of the country and sought to boycott Israel.
“Go ahead, pass your bill. You’re hurting your constituents,” Pomerantz said. “You are endangering the safety of your constituents by not letting your law enforcement people have access to the lessons Israelis have learned since 1948 on how to deal with terrorist threats.”
Pomerantz has been to Israel with U.S. law enforcement officials four times since Oct. 7. Participants “really appreciate the lessons they’ve learned since then,” he told JNS.
Morton Klein, national president of Zionist Organization of America, told JNS the legislation is “clearly” aimed at Israel and is part of a broader push by anti-Israel politicians to “undermine America’s support for Israel.”
Prior to becoming mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani has said that “we have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.”
In November, military officers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, India, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Estonia, Japan, Morocco, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia participated in a seminar in Israel hosted by the Israel Defense Forces. Some of those countries had recognized a Palestinian state.
