Alan Dershowitz: “These are very dangerous times for Israel”

He is one of the most recognized jurists in the United States and some would say he is even notorious. The one who placed himself at the forefront of the fight for freedom of expression and defended controversial people such as former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial in 2020, after it threatened American democracy and led to the events of the invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2020 and also Jeffrey Epstein, the Jewish-American businessman who was accused in the trafficking of minors. A sharp, brilliant and precise advocate. He has become a prominent figure in the Israeli landscape as well and has become a particularly prominent voice since October 7th, warning of what is coming.

In a special interview with Maariv, Alan Dershowitz described his concerns about the direction the Democratic Party is going and the danger that lies in Israel in the event that one of the candidates wins, “I am very concerned about the attitude of the Democratic Party towards Israel. The radical left carried out a hijacking of the Democratic Party and the President of the United States, Joe Biden, spoke about the demonstrations held outside the Democratic Convention (held in Chicago last month. BS).

These are people who call for Hamas to win. These are people who call for an intifada against Israel and against Jews. He said they had good points and the Democratic Party candidate in the upcoming election, Tim Wells, said they were protesting ‘for all the right reasons’. They are not. They are mostly anti-American, anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic racists. And the Democrats appear to be tolerant, if not supportive, of some of these protests. So what’s happening right now in the Democratic Party from Dir Sheena.”

The presidential confrontation between the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate and vice president, Kamala Harris, and her Republican counterpart and former president, Donald Trump, produced many small moments of victory for the former over the latter. The presentation, the coherence, the narrative of the prosecutor versus the criminal are squares within which Kamala Harris managed to mark a V, but one question and the answers of the two contestants in response to it, even if it was only a few minutes out of the ninety minutes of the confrontation, managed to call into question a months-long war that is still hovering over her Fighter planes and heavy fog. Kamala Harris acknowledged the terrible tragedies that happened on the seventh of October, but also said that “too many innocent Palestinian victims have been killed” and that “the war must end and it must end immediately”, Trump predicted evil “she hates Israel, she never even met Benjamin Netanyahu when he was reached the Congress. I believe that Israel will cease to exist in two years, and in the same breath, everything will go up in flames, the Arabs, the Jews, everything will not exist.”

Alan Dershowitz commented on the events of the presidential confrontation that took place this week “The Democratic candidate for the presidential elections (Kamela Harris. BS) failed to fulfill her constitutional duty by refusing to come to the Senate during the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. She chose to go to a sorority party instead. I’m also concerned about the people a possible Harris administration will appoint to key positions. I am concerned that if Kamala Harris is elected, Israel will be forced to stand alone. The party’s candidate, Kamala Harris, said that she would support Israel’s right to defend itself, but Israel should do more than defend itself, Israel should initiate and carry out preventive actions, Israel should perhaps take action to destroy the nuclear reactor in Iran, perhaps initiate a military operation that would destroy the rocket stockpile of Hezbollah. Will she (Kamela Harris. BS) support it? So that’s a concern. Although Trump (Donald Trump, former US president and current Republican Party candidate) supported Israel, his election victory is also a risk. He worked a lot for Israel – he moved the embassy, ​​he listens to me and others that we are pro-Israel. But he is not necessarily reliable, it is impossible to know what his policy will be over the years. So I think these are very dangerous times for Israel, and Israel must move towards a future in which it is less dependent on the US, militarily and diplomatically.”

Do you believe that bipartisan support for Israel is predicted to weaken in the coming years, and how can the political elite prepare for such a scenario?
“It will not be possible to blindly trust American support for Israel as it has been until now. Support for Israel was a bipartisan consensus and for the first time in American history, Israel has become a partisan issue, and the left wing of the Democratic Party is fierce in its criticism of Israel. They are not pro-Palestinian , they are pro-Hamas, and they are anti-American. For example, I have no doubt that if the name of Josh Shapiro (the governor of Pennsylvania and who was one of the strongest names to become the Democratic vice presidential candidate. BS)

There was John Shepherd and his religious affiliation was Christianity, he was chosen as a candidate. But because he was an Orthodox Zionist Jew, or at least a traditional Zionist Jew, Harris feared that his appointment would inflame the radical left wing in her party. The left wing of the Democratic Party has become anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and, to a large extent, anti-American, and they are gaining strength. There is also an anti-Semitic right wing in the Republican Party, but they are less influential, although people like Tucker Carlson are influential, and they do not support Israel. So I think Israel is caught between the extremes of right-wing fascism and radical left-wing anarchy. Israel thrives in the center of the political map, but the American political center has shrunk and shrunk. In America it was reduced and reduced. And both parties, but especially the Democrats, become captives of their extremists.

In light of the rise in anti-Semitic sentiment towards the Jewish communities in the US now, how can one describe the feelings of the Jews in the US in the face of the growing anti-Semitic rhetoric on both sides?
“The problem is that most Jews in America are not interested in Israel and are not bothered by anti-Semitism. They focus solely on their personal success. This was true in the 1930s and it is even more true today. Jews do not vote for candidates who support Israel or Jewish values. Over 70% of Jews will vote for the Democratic Party, even though it has largely abandoned the Jews and Israel. Therefore, the main problem in America is the lack of support from the Jews, from institutions such as the Temple Emanuel synagogue in New York, the most important synagogue in the city, which cannot be trusted to support Jewish values , and the Y on 92nd Street, an important cultural institution in New York. These are no longer pro-Israeli or pro-Jewish. They are much more interested in the success of the Jewish community in the United States. So Israel cannot count on the support of the United States More to count on the support of the American Jewish community.”

In your opinion, are these developments that were triggered by the war in Gaza?
“No, this is not the current war, and this is not the current administration. This is not Netanyahu and this is not Gaza. This is a trend, and the students who are now anti-Israel on campuses, in a decade they may be members of Congress, in twenty years they will reach the White House, what we see On campus today is a reflection of what will be seen in Washington, D.C. in 10, 15, 20 years. The blame lies mainly in what is known as DEI – diversity, equality, and intersectionality, which are rooted in hatred of Israel, to hatred of Jews The most meritocracy in the world. It has no natural wealth. It succeeded through meritocracy, and the left hates meritocracy, and hates Jews, because Israel and the Jews are the representatives of meritocracy in the world today.”

“The attack on Israel did not begin after Israel entered Gaza, it began with the October 7 disaster. As early as October 8, groups on campuses began speaking out against Israel. So this is not the war in Gaza, this is not Benjamin Netanyahu, this is not even Ben Gabir and Smotrich, although they contribute to the image The problem of Israel in the world. This is a structured return to what we saw in the 1930s. The world is again divided into red and black, people on the extreme left. And when the center is pushed out, so is Israel The Jewish community is suffering. So the only thing that can help Israel and the Jewish community is to try to promote centralism and moderation, and this is a difficult task.”

When we turned to talk about the demonstrations, here too Alan Dershowitz spread his doctrine to me, saying “Israel suffers from Netanyahu’s madness syndrome. There is nothing Netanyahu can do to satisfy the will of these protesters. Some of them hate Netanyahu more than they hate Hamas, and they will sacrifice Israel’s security in an effort to try Get rid of Netanyahu. You can be critical of many parts of his policies. What is happening in Israel is “Bibi Derangement Syndrome” and very much like the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” in the United States. , the attacks on Netanyahu are mostly irrational, they are emotional. I sympathize with the families of the abductees, but they have not offered an alternative policy. People blame the current Israeli government for not having a ceasefire, but the US State Department says that Hamas is preventing a ceasefire, but you don’t listen. This is from the protesters, not in the United States. And I think that both the protesters in Israel and the United States are encouraging Hamas to work for this. They are dividing Israel. And although I support the right of protesters to demonstrate, they must understand that many of these demonstrations encourage Hamas not to agree to a ceasefire. This is a terrible conflict for the Israelis. They must demonstrate that they do not agree with the government’s policy, but they must also understand that their demonstrations and the Americans’ demonstrations encourage Hamas. Hamas is winning, and it is winning mainly because it succeeds in dividing Israelis, dividing Americans and dividing Jews.”

Still, we have seen reports in foreign media that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also raising difficulties on his part in connection with the negotiations.
“The State Department announced that Hamas is the only barrier to a ceasefire, Israel is not an obstacle on the way to a ceasefire. Yes, I want a ceasefire, and I want to see all the abductees return home, but the protests should be directed at Hamas and Sinwar. Israel even went so far as to offer Sinwar has a safe passage from Gaza, but Hamas does not want a ceasefire because they are winning, and they are winning because they are succeeding in dividing Israelis, Jews, and Americans, so we need to think about that as well. Demonstrations are perfectly legitimate and should be encouraged in a democracy To understand what the consequences are when people demonstrate division in this way, it encourages Hamas to raise their demands. And today, Hamas, not Israel, is the barrier to a cease-fire. And remember that if Israel makes new demands, they are intended to protect its national security and prevent a recurrence of the Shi’a in October. , what Hamas is doing is to demand the release of more murderers so that they can renew their ranks. This is a very difficult decision for Israel, and there should be more understanding and sympathy for the decision that Israel is facing in giving up its protection regarding the Philadelphia corridor, in giving up many hostages. These are not easy things for Israel do”.

“I don’t like the slogan ‘Bring Them Home’. It puts all the responsibility on Israel. On the contrary, the slogan should be ‘Send my people’ – let our people go.” Alan Dershowitz says with intense emotion through my computer screen, no pixel dares to miss the power and nuances behind Dershowitz’s words. “Hamas is the one who is in the position to release the abductees. So my preference is ‘let our people go’. Let’s put the burden of their return home on those who kidnapped our people, not on those who fell victim to it.”

Israel is in the middle of a political and political storm right now, in a war at home and abroad – after all, there are not only huge protests over a deal that will return the abductees home, but also settler riots in the West Bank that embroil Israel in the world.
“This is a legitimate reason for criticism. The settlers must be prosecuted for any violence against innocent civilians and a uniform standard must be applied to Jewish criminals and Jewish terrorists. The same standard is applied to Arab criminals and terrorists. There cannot be a double standard that protects Jews more than Arabs. So I think the criticism of the attitude towards violence in the West Bank is completely legitimate, and it does not affect Israel’s national security. Terrorism on the part of Israelis and Jews in the West Bank does not help protect Israel’s security.”

Do you think Israeli democracy is in danger?
“Israel is a vibrant democracy. And democracies sometimes elect bad people. Every democracy elects bad people, and I think it’s a shame that Netanyahu had to include some of these people in his government. I am completely opposed to the positions of Ben Gabir and Smotrich and others, and I would like to see a government that does not include such people And it does not include extremists from the right, and I would hope that the next government would not include such people Very much for not knowing and for members of the Likud party, but the important point to emphasize is that Israel is a democracy, and I do not see any major threats to Israeli democracy. I do not support most legal reforms, but this is the way of democracy, and Israel is one of the democracies The most vibrant in the world. This included the demonstration against the reform, and this included the demonstration in favor of the reform, and the United States should not call for changes in the government in Israel Aliyah, move to Israel and vote in Israel. But if you’re not Israeli, you don’t have to tell Israelis who should be their leader.”

I tried to end on an optimistic note, if Alan Dershowitz has any hope to share.
“I would like to see a greater effort to unite people. I think this effort can be done through the offices of the great president of Israel, Boji Herzog, whom I have known for many years. He is the unifying force. He should be given more authority and more power, and I hope that he can unite Israelis. The Israelis have more in common than different. So my hope is that the Israelis can unite, like on court reform, and this is not the time for accusations. The whole country was to blame for what happened on October 7th, but the main blame of course lies with Hamas and Israel must guarantee that never again.”

“Israel should be committed to its unity, but this should not cause accusations and divisions that harm Israel and especially that harm Israel’s national security, because Israel’s national security must be above all petty considerations and partisan considerations.”