For several years, Students for Justice in Palestine and other anti-Israel groups have been disseminating the claim that the Jewish state trains U.S. police officers to use brutal and lethal techniques, especially on black men—an accusation as absurd as it is malicious. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, this canard has taken on new life, leading the English actress Maxine Peake to claim that the police officer who murdered Floyd did so using a technique introduce by Israel. Jonathan Tobin comments on the uproar Peake inadvertently started in her own country, and an American parallel:

From synagogue shootings, to attacks on Jews on the streets, to the gathering strength and viciousness of anti-Zionism, especially in the corridors of political power, American Jewry has ample reason for concern about its safety and wellbeing. But, surveying both the present situation and the deep roots of what has made America a welcoming home to Jews with “no analogue in the 2,000 years after the destruction of the Temple,” Josef Joffe argues that the U.S. remains exceptional. The bad news, however, is still bad: