El Paso County Sheriff’s Department

One of the organizations that organize and sponsor these trainings is the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF). The AIEF is a 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States. AIEF is AIPAC’s charitable arm and makes grants to AIPAC as well as funds trips to Israel for politically influential Americans, including U.S. Congress members, for meetings with the Israeli political and military elite. In 2017 alone, AIEF sponsored 147 congressional trips to Israel and spent $2.16 million, more than any other interest group sponsoring congressional travel.

The Sheriffs Department of El Paso County, Colorado, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Terry Maketa served as Sheriff of El Paso County Sheriffs Department between 2002 and 2014. Sheriff Maketa attended a training in Israel through AIPAC as a delegate of the AIEF in April 2011. According to documents obtained by a request for information, his training in Israel included learning about Israels Separation Wall, considered illegal by the International Court of Justice, visits to illegal settlements in the West Bank and to towns near the besieged Gaza Strip, the use of media management in counter-terrorism, and learning about the advanced and extensive surveillance system in the Old City of Jerusalem.