(JNS) – A delegation of 13 New York-area law-enforcement officials is visiting Israel this week to get a hands-on view of the security issues facing the Jewish state and to learn about fighting antisemitism and study counter-terrorism initiatives for possible use in protecting their Jewish communities.

The Israeli government program for international law-enforcement officials, which was initiated six years ago by the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs, comes at a time of surging antisemitism around the world, including in the United States, following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza.

Since its inception, there have been 15 such delegations of law enforcement officials from around the world, about one-third of them from the U.S., said Moshe Elert, CEO of Israel Military Industries, which is subcontracted to run the event.

The program for the U.S. law-enforcement officials, which has worked in tandem with American Jewish security officials in their communities over the last seven years, has been dubbed “Birthright for American police chiefs,” referring to the free 10-day trips to Israel offered to young Jewish Diaspora adults.

The delegation in Israel this week—the second since the war began—was made up of police commissioners and chiefs who had been in Israel on a curtailed mission that began a day before the Oct. 7 attack that ended abruptly with an evacuation the next day.