Does DHS have Tel Aviv office
Executive summary
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security does not operate a generic, standalone “DHS office” in Tel Aviv in the way the public might imagine; however, at least one DHS component—U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—maintains an Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, and DHS has formal programmatic ties and cooperation arrangements with Israeli counterparts and firms [1] [2] [3]. Claims circulating that DHS as a whole runs its official social-media accounts from Tel Aviv were investigated and deemed misinformation or manipulated-media by independent fact-checkers and platform representatives [4] [5] [6].
1. What “DHS presence” usually means and why precision matters
“In Tel Aviv” can mean many things: a physical office run by the department’s headquarters, a consular or embassy branch managed by an agency within DHS, a temporary delegation on official travel, or programmatic partnerships with local firms and ministries; distinguishing among those is essential because DHS is an umbrella for many component agencies and programs [1] [2] [3]. Reporting that fails to specify which part of DHS is involved conflates ICE, DHS Science & Technology programs, and higher-level diplomatic visits, which obscures both the legal authorities and operational constraints that apply to each type of presence [1] [2] [3].
2. The concrete, verifiable presence: ICE Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv
ICE’s public field-office listing identifies an Embassy Branch Office located at 71 Ha-Yarkon, Tel Aviv-Yafo, with a published telephone number and mailing address—an explicit, component-level, on-the-ground presence tied to ICE rather than to DHS as a single entity [1]. That listing is hosted on ICE’s official .gov page, which the agency uses to provide contact and field-office information to the public, and it establishes that at least one operational DHS component maintains a stationary office in Tel Aviv [1].
3. DHS programmatic cooperation with Israeli partners and firms
Beyond ICE’s embassy branch, DHS has documented programmatic ties to Israel: a DHS official visited Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to sign security cooperation arrangements and an MOU linked to DHS components (including ICE HSI) and to discuss cybersecurity at an Israeli industry conference [2]. DHS Science & Technology materials also list joint projects with Israeli companies through binational programs such as BIRD HLS and BIRD Cyber that involve Tel Aviv-based firms [3]. These items show policy-level engagement and project partnerships rather than a single, unified “DHS embassy office” in Tel Aviv [2] [3].
4. The social-media flap and the spread of a specific false claim
In late‑November 2025, images and videos circulating on X (formerly Twitter) purported to show the Department of Homeland Security’s official account as based in Tel Aviv; platform and independent reviewers found those claims to be misinformation or manipulated media and said government accounts did not display such localization, with X’s product head calling the screenshots manipulated and DHS describing related posts as false [4] [5] [6]. Media outlets like NBC and BBC examined the matter and emphasized that the rumor conflated account-location metadata with physical offices, and that platform bugs or misattributed IP data were likely culprits in the confusion [5] [6].
5. What these facts prove — and what they do not
The verified documentation proves that ICE, a DHS component, operates an Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv and that DHS conducts formal cooperation and funded projects with Israeli entities [1] [2] [3]. What these sources do not establish is the existence of a single, all‑DHS administrative office run out of Tel Aviv or that DHS headquarters staff are permanently operating U.S. homeland-security governance from Israel; available reporting does not support those broader claims and independent fact-checking flagged social-media assertions that suggested otherwise [1] [4] [5] [6].
6. Bottom line
A precise reading of official sources and reputable reporting shows a clear, component-level DHS footprint in Tel Aviv—principally ICE’s Embassy Branch Office and programmatic DHS partnerships—while sweeping claims that “DHS” as a whole runs out of Tel Aviv are unsupported and were the subject of misinformation on social platforms [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. If further clarification is required about which DHS component or program is referenced in specific claims, public .gov contact pages and DHS press releases remain the most reliable primary sources [1] [2].