Organizing against the Trump administration’s fascistic violence and abuse of an already systemically unjust immigration policy has dominated U.S. left-wing protest energy. Around the country, demonstrations, strikes and legislative campaigns center on expressing solidarity with immigrant communities, mutual aid and combating Immigration and Customs Enforcement terror. At Cornell, the most visible displays of left-wing activism were an ‘Abolish ICE’ rally and disruptions of ICE collaborator recruitment events.
While these actions are a necessary response to the horrific murders and kidnappings that ICE conducts in its fascist reign of terror, it is imperative that we understand how internationally connected this issue is. Specifically, organizing to abolish ICE means fighting for a free Palestine. ICE officers train alongside the Israeli Defense Forces. They weaponize the same AI surveillance technology against U.S. protesters and immigrants that Israel employs to murder Palestinian civilians.
As the central focus of protests shifts from Palestine to ICE, the circumstances of the ongoing genocide have not changed. From Oct. 10 to Feb. 10, Israel violated the terms of the latest ceasefire at least 1,620 times, killing 618 Palestinians and injuring 1,663. Since launching its attacks on Iran, Israel has shut down the Rafah crossing into Gaza from Egypt, the most vital pathway for delivering humanitarian aid.
By understanding the deeply entrenched entanglements between ICE and the Israeli Defense Forces, we can bring Palestine back into the forefront of the conversation. Through this comprehension, our demands become more expansive and evolved, as they include a strong critique of American militarism and imperialism.
The United States has a history of extensive collaboration with Israeli armed forces through an exchange of military technology, strategy and individuals. As proudly proclaimed by Israeli scholars, “developing and using the same military hardware systems, sharing lessons learned from previous combat experience and developing novel concepts and joint exercises, create a wide web of military-to-military relationships between the U.S. and Israel.”
A direct facet of this collaboration are joint training programs between U.S. and Israeli law enforcement. Through initiatives such as Jupiter Falcon, thousands of American soldiers engage in military exercises and strategy education with the IDF. Furthermore, state police commissioners, police chiefs and state Homeland Security directors from all over the U.S. have undergone counterterrorism training in Israel.
In particular, ICE agents have had deep, purposeful and historical participation in such joint training programs. Under the Bush administration, ICE was created specifically to “combat terrorism.” Department of Homeland Security officials immediately looked to Israel for advice. Since then, ICE agents have attended training sessions with the IDF in Israel, learned counterterrorism strategies from Israeli officials and traded technology with Israel.
The United Nations, in conjunction with numerous human rights organizations, has charged the IDF with countless human rights abuses, including arbitrary detentions, house and school raids, kidnapping, excessive force and unlawful killings. Sound familiar? ICE is following the same playbook.
Another prominent feature of this partnership is through shared technology from giant military and surveillance industries. Israel uses software from Palantir Technologies, an infamous American surveillance company, to plan deadly military attacks in Lebanon and Gaza. Data from Palestinian civilians fuels Palantir’s artificial intelligence machines, which empowers Israel’s AI targeting of over 37,000 people for assassination. Military officers then execute these kill lists without human review, often bombing targets once they enter residential homes, murdering their family members.
Palantir is also contracted by ICE to deliver the $30 million data platform, "ImmigrationOS." Its purpose is to compile personal data and target individuals for deportation. ICE utilizes other AI-powered Palantir technology and platforms to systematically identify, monitor and kidnap immigrants.
The technological collaboration goes both ways. ICE is partnered with the Israeli digital forensics firm, Cellebrite, using their software and hardware to extract information from password-protected phones. In 2025, the Trump administration advanced a contract with Paragon, another surveillance company founded in Israel. Paragon’s spyware is one of the most dangerous stealth cyber-weapons in the world, able to hack into encrypted applications on mobile phones. It allows ICE to track and record individuals, access messages on Signal (an encrypted application that organizers use for safety) and retrieve any photographs.
ICE’s brutality and surveillance toward immigrants and protestors is American imperialism coming home to roost. Agents use Israeli cyber-weapons to hunt and deport innocent people. Officers train with the IDF and deploy their "counterterrorism" strategies to suppress protests. Immoral tech companies run by billionaire CEOs profit off both the AI-enabled murder of Palestinians and the monitoring of U.S. immigrants.
Of course, the domestic situation in the United States is nothing compared to the famine, targeted murders and cruel bombings that Israel commits in Palestine. Still, understanding the entanglements between ICE and the IDF illuminates both our duty to Palestinian liberation and the necessity of abolishing ICE.
The reality is a genocide in Palestine and a violent ethnic cleansing in the U.S. The shared ailment is American imperialism, of which Israel is an outpost. As former President Joe Biden said, “If there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one.”
Whether it be in Iran, Chilé, Vietnam, Indonesia, Palestine or dozens of other countries, American imperialism has never been a force for good. Now that we are experiencing a slice of that oppression domestically, we realize the horrific reality of U.S. militancy and surveillance on foreign peoples. It emphasizes the obligation we have to fight, protest, and dismantle that hegemony. In doing so, we will also liberate ourselves domestically from fascism on the home front.
On an organizational level, the connections are already there. For example, Cornell’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine cosponsored the University’s anti-ICE rally. Nevertheless, activists need to be even more overt in the strategy of mutual liberation. The goal of every abolish ICE action must include severing U.S. military and law enforcement connections to Israel. After all, those ties worsen domestic oppression.
Mina Petrova '29 is a Freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences studying English, History, and Government. Her fortnightly column North Star studies the past and critiques the present, focusing on politics, protests and activism that strive toward a more equitable future. She can be reached at mpetrova@cornellsun.com.
