The police violence in Ferguson and the attendant images have inspired comparisons with Israel's assault on Gaza. The parallels between Israeli and U.S. militarized policies are not far-fetched. A cursory investigation shows that Israel maintains an extensive network of relations with U.S. law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal levels.

It is no coincidence that the Ferguson and St. Louis County police forces were trained in Israel in recent years. These connections are so important that the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee touts their success and the Jewish Virtual Library lists police training as a separate category of U.S.-Israel relations.

The CRI, a private counterterrorism-training outfit run by a former Israeli special forces member, promises training in "combat experience in dealing with terrorism, crime and guerrilla warfare."