Since the early 90s, hundreds of law enforcement officers, including police officers and agents from the FBI, CIA, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have either been sent to Israel through police exchanges, or attended summits within the US that were sponsored by Israeli lobby organisations.
Police forces from Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington state and others have participated in the training, including one that took place in Minneapolis, the city where Floyd was killed.
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.
"With a long record of human rights violations, Israeli security forces are an incredibly problematic training partner," Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International USA's researcher for arms control, security and human rights told MEE.
Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesperson, rejected criticisms of the training scheme, telling MEE that the police exchanges in Israel provide American forces with valuable information on how to "prevent and respond" to attacks.
"The learning and sharing has saved many lives both in Israel and overseas throughout the years," Rosenfeld said.
"The organisations that are calling out, specifically in the US, against law enforcement learning and sharing are weakening the nation's preparedness to respond to terror attacks, hate crimes and extremists who break the law."