Amnesty International said the force “must ensure it is not implicated in Israel’s human rights violations” following an investigation by The Detail which found the PSNI is working on at least four security research projects with Israeli partners.

One of the PSNI’s ongoing projects with Israel, ‘Roxanne’, is aimed at developing surveillance technology that identifies people involved in organised crime and terrorism through analysis of private telephone calls, texts, speech patterns and video.

The PSNI is also working on a separate security research project with the Israeli Ministry of Public Security, called the ILEAnet project, which aims to “set up and develop a sustainable network of law enforcement agency practitioner organisations from all over Europe”.

In addition, the PSNI is involved in two projects with private company Motorola Solutions Israel, a subsidiary of the telecoms giant.

The projects are funded by the EU under the security stream of Horizon 2020, an €80 billion investment programme, of which €1.7bn is allocated for security research.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty’s Northern Ireland campaigns manager, said it was “highly questionable whether the PSNI should ever have set up projects like this in the first place” but that “distressing scenes of recent weeks from East Jerusalem and Gaza must now be a wake-up call”.

He added: “Even post-ceasefire, normal life for Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories involves systematic oppression, often at the hands of forces under the Israeli Ministry of Public Security.

“Northern Ireland, and particularly our police service, must ensure it is not implicated in Israel’s human rights violations.

“As a matter of urgency, the PSNI should suspend all programmes with the Israeli police and security services where there’s a clear risk of involvement in human rights violations – both in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“This needs to come as part of a wider halt to all military and police exports from the UK to Israel, including any training and technology which could lead to further human rights violations.

“If the Chief Constable refuses to act, the Policing Board and the Northern Ireland Justice Minister must step in and take action.”