A report published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth says that several universities in both the US and Canada have entered into agreements with Israel-linked security companies to suppress pro-Palestinian protests occurring on their campuses, Al Jazeera reports.

The report notes that after the election of Donald Trump, who pledged to penalise academic institutions that failed to control “radicals and Hamas supporters”, several universities in both countries turned to Israeli security firms to manage pro-Palestinian protests.

The City University of New York, a major hotspot for protests last year, has recently signed a $4m contract with Strategy Security Corp. This company, owned by Yosef Sordi, a former New York City police officer, has publicly disclosed his professional training in Israel.

Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, also enlisted two Israeli security firms: Percentage International, led by Adam Cohen, the former head of security for the Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem, and Moshav Security Consulting, operated by Eyal Feldman, a former Israeli army reserve commander and ex-advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Defence.