Last week, BBC London posted a video saying “Have you seen the Met Police new SandCats?”. The police force was proudly parading around the Israeli armoured vehicles, despite the apartheid state’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. But the Met’s love-in with Israel is no new thing.

Met Police and the SandCats

In total, the force has ordered 18 SandCats, which Israeli occupation forces have long tested on Palestinians. And officers have already been training in the streets. The Met hasn’t used them in operations yet, though, claiming it’s saving them for “the most serious public disorder”. That’s not particularly comforting, though, when we consider the state’s increasing repression of anti-genocide activism, its raiding of journalists’ homes, efforts to protect Israeli war criminals, important participation in the Gaza genocide via RAF Akrotiri, attempts in court to defend ongoing arms transfers, and general cosiness with the Israel lobby.

 

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Just part of the story

The Met has refused to reveal its cooperation with Israeli police, despite admitting it hosted “an Israeli police delegation” in 2022. But as Declassified UK has reported:

Senior Metropolitan Police officers are regular attendees at a think tank closely tied to Israel’s military and intelligence services and have accepted hospitality from its embassy in London.

At the same time:

A number of high-ranking MPS officers have also accepted gifts or hospitality from the Israeli embassy in London, despite MPS guidance stating that such offers be refused.

Also:

Collaboration between the Israeli government and the MPS dates back to at least the early 2000s, when an MPS team was sent to Israel

Other police forces, meanwhile, have used controversial facial recognition technology from Israel’s Corsight AI. The Met appears to have a different provider for its own invasive mass surveillance – Japanese company NEC‘s NeoFace® Watch. But then, NEC itself also has operations in Israel. And prime minister Keir Starmer seems to be fond of the idea of increasing the use of facial recognition technology.

Considering police spent decades infiltrating primarily left-wing activist groups, we should be very wary of the direction things are going, and the people British police are working with on that journey.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.