What specific ADL materials or memos have been leaked about U.S.–Israel police exchanges and what do they say?
Executive summary
A 2020 internal Anti‑Defamation League (ADL) memo — described in reporting as “Law Enforcement Trainings in Israel” and published by Jewish Currents and The Guardian in March 2022 — was leaked and shows ADL leaders privately debating whether to pause or end police exchange trips to Israel, acknowledging controversy and operational concerns even as the ADL publicly defended the program [1] [2].
1. The document that leaked: what they are and who wrote them
The principal leaked material referenced in multiple outlets is an internal ADL memo and related draft authored by senior ADL staff, including George Selim and Greg Ehrie, addressed to CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in 2020, which reporters and activists have called “Law Enforcement Trainings in Israel” or an internal memo recommending ending police delegations [2] [3]. Jewish Voice for Peace and Deadly Exchange activists and outlets like Jewish Currents and The Guardian obtained and published versions of this internal ADL analysis in March 2022, presenting it as evidence the ADL had quietly paused its delegations [1] [2].
2. The memo’s core findings and language: pause, controversy, and concern about force
According to the leaked memo, ADL senior staff concluded the delegations were a source of “high controversy” and debated terminating the law‑enforcement trips, explicitly questioning whether returning officers might be “more likely to use force,” language cited in reporting of the memo [2] [3]. The document reportedly states the ADL had not organized trips since 2019 and recommended disrupting the program amid sustained activist pressure, while also noting the organization could resume or revise the program in future [4] [5] [1].
3. Numbers, programs and programs’ framing in the memo
Reporting draws on the memo and ADL materials to say the ADL’s National Counterterrorism Seminar (NCTS) and related exchanges have brought hundreds of U.S. law‑enforcement officials to Israel since the early 2000s — ADL‑run programs that the memo assesses for reputational risk and operational impact — with reporting citing ADL statements that hundreds of senior officials participated since about 2003 [2] [6].
4. Other leaked material and related files that broaden the picture
Separate leaks in the BlueLeaks trove of hacked U.S. law‑enforcement files showed ADL staff listed as registered attendees at fusion‑center events and described as facilitating workshops on extremism, hate crime and counterterrorism in Washington, D.C. and Israel, which reporters used to document ADL–law‑enforcement ties beyond the memo about delegations [7] [8]. Those hacked police files also included material showing U.S. agencies received analysis from Israeli military and think‑tanks — reporting that journalists used to argue the flow of tactics and intelligence was more extensive than public accounts suggested [7].
5. How different actors interpret the leaks — activists, ADL, critics and defenders
Activists such as Jewish Voice for Peace and the Deadly Exchange coalition hailed the memo as proof their campaigning forced an ADL pause and cited the memo to press for broader bans on exchanges [1] [9]. ADL spokespeople and allied voices pushed back, saying activists misrepresent the program, noting the organization continued some work and that any “pause” did not necessarily equal termination; reporting indicates the ADL has said the program might continue with revisions rather than being permanently ended [4] [10] [2]. Critics of the Deadly Exchange framing argue the claim that Israel is responsible for U.S. police brutality is a misleading oversimplification [5].
6. What the leaks prove — and the limits of available reporting
The leaked ADL memo and BlueLeaks documents establish that ADL leaders privately debated the controversy around U.S.–Israel police exchanges, recommended pausing or reconsidering delegations because of reputational and use‑of‑force concerns, and that ADL staff have been involved in law‑enforcement training and fusion‑center events [3] [2] [7]. Reporting does not, however, provide a definitive, publicly available inventory of every specific tactical transfer from Israeli agencies to U.S. departments attributable to ADL‑facilitated trips, nor does the published memo alone quantify causal links between exchanges and particular instances of U.S. police violence; those gaps remain outside the scope of the cited documents [7] [2].