The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) is raising concerns about the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) “indiscriminate support” of and connections to the Israeli military amid the ongoing war on Gaza.
On Friday, Jan. 19, CAIR-LA, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California held a press conference outside the LAPD headquarters addressing social media posts from LAPD officers that allegedly express support for Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
The latest photos in question, in a series of social media posts, show an alleged member of the LAPD posing next to Israeli military equipment and a bomb with “Happy Minyan, enjoy the fireworks” written on it alongside a heart.
Amr Shabaik, CAIR-LA legal and policy director, said he hopes to bring awareness to how harmful these social media posts can be.
“[These posts] send a strong message to other members of LAPD and to the community in general, that the lives of Palestinian Americans, Muslim Americans, Arab Americans, anyone who’s speaking out about Palestine, are not valued,” said Shabaik.
He feared these communities “won’t be protected by the law enforcement sworn to protect them and provide them equal services as they would to any other community.”
Shabaik believes this is particularly concerning amidst a recent rise in anti-Islamic hate incidents since it could signal a lack of repercussions for actions of hate against these communities.
“We’ve seen essentially a 200% increase in the last quarter of 2023 of isolated [hate] incidents that are reported to us,” said Shabaik.
Both anti-semitism and anti-Muslim hate have been on the rise since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, according to data from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and CAIR.
Concerns about the social media posts come on the heels of a Jan. 18 letter from the three organizations – CAIR, MPAC and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California – to the LAPD Board of Police Commissioners, outlining concerns about potential LAPD training with the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and the implications this could have on the human rights and policing of the Palestinian population in LA.
“What are they learning from these military forces that they are bringing back to our communities?” questioned Shabaik.
A 2018 report from Researching the American-Israeli Alliance and Jewish Voice for Peace examined exchange programs between U.S. law enforcement and the Israeli military, which have now been ongoing for two decades. It concluded that these programs instill militarized logics of security onto civilians, normalize mass surveillance and encourage violent repression of protests and movements.
“We’ve seen militarized tactics being used against people who are protesting and advocating for black lives. We’ve seen surveillance of Palestinian activists and seen surveillance of black activists, of indigenous activists,” said Shabaik, adding that marginalized communities experience “the brunt of these militarized tactics.”
Amnesty International raised concerns about human rights violations from the militarized use of force on protestors during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Similar concerns surrounding surveillance and targeting of pro-Palestinian activists are now being raised, as more than 10 protest leaders in New York City were targeted and arrested by the NYPD last week.
“All these militarized tactics that local police forces get from international militaries is very concerning. And then when you add on top of that, a military force [IDF] that is currently engaging in genocide and in the indiscriminate bombing campaign against civilians who are already under dire circumstances, it gives another level of concern,” said Shabaik.
Over 24,000 Palestinians, at least 9,600 of whom are children, have been killed according to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The organizations requested a “transparent investigation” into the social media posts and the LAPD training in Israel.
The LAPD Board of Commissioners responded that they would “initiate an investigation,” and that “it is of the utmost importance that LAPD remains committed to the highest standards of accountability and respect for human rights.”
“We hope that they do the right thing, and they do address these concerns,” said Shabaik.
“Our role is to continue to apply pressure. To continue to bring light to these situations and continue to bring light to some of the egregious actions that LAPD members have engaged in, not just towards the Arab-American community, Palestinian-American community, but also the black and Latino communities in L.A.”
CAIR assists American Muslims who have been victims of hate crimes or hate incidents. To learn more, go to ca.cair.com.
Muslim Public Affairs Council works to promote understanding of Islam and discourage Islamophobia. For more information, go to mpac.org.
To report anti-Arab discrimination, contact the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee at adc.org/legal-policy/get-assistance.
To report an antisemitic hate crime or incident, go to adl.org/report-incident.
To report any hate crime or incident (in more than 200 languages), call the California vs Hate hotline at 1-833-8-NO-HATE or go to cavshate.org.
This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.