New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly visited Israel this week to speak at the Herzliyya Conference. The conference, held annually at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliyya, is one of the most important political events of the year in Israel, with influential politicians, businessmen, journalists, and religious figures from around the world participating.

Kelly, a longtime supporter of Israel, described the close relationship between the NYPD and Israeli National Police. The NYPD has had an officer assigned to Tel Aviv as an intermediate between the two forces since 2002. This is one of eleven posts that the NYPD has created in cities throughout the world in what the NYPD is calling its “international liaison program.”

The liaison works in the field, accompanying police to crime scenes and terror attacks as well as acting as an official conduit between Israelis and New Yorkers. There is also at least one former New York City officer serving in the Israeli National Police in the Jerusalem District. Kelly attended the event to take part in a panel entitled “The Community Front: An integrated approach to personal security.”

Kelly last visited Israel in 2009, when he accompanied Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Queens Congressman Gary Ackerman on a solidarity trip to S’derot to express support for the IDF’s Cast Lead incursion into Gaza. At the time, Bloomberg said, “All Hamas has to do is stop sending rockets over to kill people and agree on the accords that were negotiated earlier and come to an agreement that is verifiable, durable, and effective to stop people from being killed.”

Kelly has also shown his support of Israel in New York, attending the American Friends of the Open University of Israel annual dinner in March. “My presence here, I think, is a manifestation of the special relationship that exists between the New York City Police Department and the State of Israel,” Kelly stated. Since September 11, we knew that “we had a great deal to learn from Israel,” he added. Kelly met with his Israeli counterpart, Commissioner Dudi Cohen, on February 3. The two discussed ways in which their forces can collaborate on issues such as organized crime and the proliferation of illegal weapons.

Cohen was on the same panel with Kelly and spoke about the fight against serious crime, public corruption, and violence in society. The Israeli commissioner also discussed the international nature of modern crime, saying that criminals do not know or respect borders.

New York City and Israel collaborate on security issues beyond their police ties. The Metropolitan College of New York’s Emergency and Disaster Management graduate program includes a study abroad component in which students are trained in emergency management by Israel Military Industries, one of the Israeli army’s main weapons suppliers and innovators in hightech warfare and disaster response.