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Home » Dershowitz reaches a turning point of sorts

Dershowitz reaches a turning point of sorts

The New Neo Posted on by

I’m talking about this statement:

US Law Professor Alan Dershowitz spoke to Channel 12 News about the Biden Administration’s decision not to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan and criticized the administration for its stance.

“I was surprised by the US decision not to veto Israel. This is a terrible decision, because it gives Hamas everything it wants, without demanding anything in return. This will lengthen the war. This is a terrible decision both for us and for Israel,” Dershowitz said.

He added, “Many Americans won’t vote for Biden after this. This vote is not a difference between Biden and Netanyahu, this is a difference between Biden and Israel. There is no dispute about the need of getting the hostages back. Biden is going against Israel.”

On a personal note, Dershowitz said, “I’ve been voting Democrats since 1960. This is the first time that I am thinking of not voting for them. I can’t vote for them, because that is a vote against Israel.”

As I’ve said many many times, a mind is a difficult thing to change.

Comments

Dershowitz reaches a turning point of sorts — 59 Comments

  1. Alas, it took THIS to wake him up.
    But he’s not the only one…

    There are those who still haven’t woken up. Who refuse to do so.
    And then there are those who would cast aside “Biden” but—EQUALLY and ADAMANTLY—cannot bring themselves to vote for Trump, so utterly successful has been DPUSA’s concerted campaign of DEMONIZATION against him.

    But forget about Israel: THE CORRECT REASON to STOP voting for DPUSA is less that it’s betrayed Israel (and not for the first time—recall UNSCR 23304) BUT BECAUSE IT’S BETRAYED THE USA.

    And continues—with unabated intensity and butt-ugly enthusiasm—to betray it….

    (And we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet….)

  2. “A mind is a difficult thing to change.” Evidently it just takes an existential threat to everything one holds dear.

  3. And yet, for Dershowitz, there’s still no acceptable alternative. He’ll probably end up voting for a spoiler like Cornel West or RFK.

    Republicans may seriously regret failing to nominate a less self-destructive candidate this year. A more mainstream Republican, like Nikki Haley, could have won the votes of a lot of people like Dershowitz. As it is, you either have Biden, or this:

    https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/trump-and-the-constitution/

  4. He won’t vote Republican.

    His fellow residents in Martha’s Vineyard would never speak to him again if he voted Republican.

  6. His fellow residents in Martha’s Vineyard would never speak to him again if he voted Republican.

    Given how forcefully outspoken he’s been about the Left’s various overreaches for many years now, I’d be very surprised if he hasn’t been fully socially ostracized already by the Martha’s Vineyard set. Really at this point, he doesn’t have much to lose.

  8. LeClerc – By Dersh’s own account, that ship has long sailed. His fellow residents in Martha’s Vineyard already don’t speak to him because he dared to call out some of the lawfare against Trump a few years ago.

    I’m not sure why that’s so surprising. The guy is a defense attorney. But that was enough to earn excommunication.

  10. My reasoning here is based on conversations with four or five Jewish people I have known. That said, they were awfully intelligent and thoughtful folks – the only kind I bother talking to about such things.

    The biggest reason that Jews overwhelmingly vote democrat is not some natural
    predilection towards leftism. It is centuries of ingrained fear of being, not just the minority in a society, but “the other”. There is a difference.

    For the past 100 plus years they have instinctively believed the danger came from the right, from republicans. If democrats stay on the path they seem to have chosen, this could all change very quickly.

  11. You defend a double murderer well thats fine (lets not pretend otherwise) but orange
    Man i had a particular revulsion with the von bulow case

  12. sdferr (1:03) said: “Biden claims he is a lifelong friend of the Jewish people and a Zionist, but these empty words are cover for a decades-long antipathy.”

    When many-to-most politicians say something, there’s a 50-50 chance s/he’s being truthful*. When Biden says something, there’s a 95-5 chance /against/ his being truthful.

    * Actually, that’s maybe a quarter-century out of date now. At this late date, when a party-faithful Democrat says something, there’s a 95-5 chance s/he’s saying what s/he *has* to say, in order to stay in the good graces of the cabal; and in turn, what the party-faithful Democrat ends up parroting is much less likely than 50-50 now, to be truthful.)

  13. So he deciding his vote not because of Dem
    1. support for government/media censorship
    2. a duel rule of law, one for allies of Dems and one for enemies of Dems
    3. support for the poison of identity politics
    4. support for sabotage of immigration laws to import a new loyal Dem base.

  15. Re: Democrats, Harry Truman & Israel

    But things started with such promise. I’m still moved by this story told by Truman’s grandson:
    __________________________________________

    [In 1948 Eddie Jacobson, a close friend of Truman, has been sent to plead with Truman to see Chaim Weizmann, the leader of the Zionist movement about recognizing Israel.]

    For the first few minutes of that meeting, Eddie and Grandpa chatted amiably. Then Eddie brought up Weizmann and Grandpa became so annoyed that his former partner said it was the closest he’d ever seen his old friend come to being an antisemite. Sitting behind his desk, Grandpa swiveled in his chair, turning his back. In desperation, Eddie scanned the room and found a small statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback.

    “Harry,” he said. “You have a hero, Andrew Jackson. I, too, have a hero, Chaim Weizmann. He’s the greatest Jew who ever lived. He’s an old and sick man and he’s traveled all this way to speak to you and you won’t see him. That’s not like you.”

    At that point, Grandpa started drumming his fingers on his desk, which Eddie knew meant he was changing his mind. Finally, he swiveled back around.

    “All right, you baldheaded son of a bitch,” he said. “You win. I’ll see Weizmann.”

    At 11 minutes after midnight on May 14, 1948, the United States became the first country to recognize the independent state of Israel.

    Grandpa bemoaned the fact that he was too emotional, but as far as I know, [Truman] was only seen with tears in his eyes three times—at the death of his childhood friend and press secretary, Charlie Ross; at the death of Eddie Jacobson; and when Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog, Israel’s first chief rabbi and the ambassador’s grandfather, told him that God had put him in his mother’s womb to help bring about the founding of Israel.

    –Clifton Truman Daniel, “The Recognition of Israel”
    https://www.trumanlibraryinstitute.org/israel/

  16. As Barry Meislin (and others) notes correctly, Dershowitz openly acknowledges the attitude that gives ammunition to the Jew-hate so prevalent today.

    He’s mad at Biden because he perceives a betrayal of Israel (in a single UN vote no less) of greater significance than the daily betrayals of the US Biden et al have perpetrated over the last 3 years & the 40 or so before it. If Dersh’s loyalty to Israel stirs more passion in his heart than his loyalty to the US…

  17. So now Dershowitz is a man without a Vineyard?

    Let him call out Blinken, Sullivan, Schumer, and Austin by name.

  19. John+Guilfoyle.
    I see where you’re coming from. But I think there’s more to it than that. I have friends and relations who don’t see such things as betrayals of the country. If the dems do it, it’s all unicorns. They believe the manufacturers’ brochures and any shortfalls are the fault of the greedy right.
    Dersh didn’t think these were betrayals to be glossed over. Like most committed dems, he thought–to the extent that word describes the process–that they were great ideas. No potential or actual negative results were allowed into the….process in the brain whatever that may be called–to cause distress.
    They were and are “innocent” in the most infuriating fashion.

  20. That’s a great story about Truman, huxley.

    I served with a man in the Navy who had been Truman’s Naval Attache. He had many similar stories about Truman. Truman was not well-liked, but he made many momentous and correct decisions. He was a rather common man thrust into the job by fate and was able to rise to meet the challenges.

    My grandparents disliked him, and so did I. But after hearing some of my friend’s stories, my opinion charged.

  21. John Guilfoyle:

    You might have had a point IF in this case the interests of Israel and of the US were at odds. They are not, however, and that is obvious. Dershowitz also makes this plain.when he writes that it’s a “terrible decision both for us and for Israel.” He might even have added, “and for the Western world.” Because that is also true. And also, “for humanity.”

    That’s what has caused such a powerful reaction for Dershowitz and so many others, including many non-Jews who have been moderate Democrats. And yet you consider this evidence of some sort of higher loyalty to Israel? Think about it.

    What’s more, Dershowitz has written extensively in recent years against what Democrats and Biden have been doing. He defended Trump in his impeachment trial in Congress, at great personal cost.

    The “dual loyalty” or “higher loyalty” charge is an old one against Jews. In this case it is especially inappropriate.

  22. The “dual loyalty” or “higher loyalty” charge is an old one against Jews.

    Also Catholics. At least in the past. Hardly at all nowadays.

  23. Irish.
    yeah. I recall it being said JFK would be getting instructions from the Vatican while in the confessional.

  24. IrishOtter:

    Yes, I remember it well. JFK was the first Catholic president and it was said of him. He actually made a speech addressing it; see this.

    If I’m not mistaken, Biden is only the second Catholic president.

  25. Richard Aubrey:

    You write:

    I have friends and relations who don’t see such things as betrayals of the country. If the dems do it, it’s all unicorns. They believe the manufacturers’ brochures and any shortfalls are the fault of the greedy right.
    Dersh didn’t think these were betrayals to be glossed over. Like most committed dems, he thought–to the extent that word describes the process–that they were great ideas. No potential or actual negative results were allowed into the….process in the brain whatever that may be called–to cause distress.

    You better specify which things you’re talking about – because Dershowitz came out quite publicly and vocally AGAINST plenty of those things, particularly when they involved law (his field of expertise). Do a search just on this blog for “Dershowitz,” and you’ll come up with some of them.

  26. Here’s a little secret about Jewish Americans over the age of 50. We can be divided in two groups. Those that think that Naziism and the return of the Final Solution can re-occur in America and those that think that is impossible.

    Now the first group doesn’t think the re-occurrence of the Final Solution is likely to happen in America just that there is non-zero chance that it might. This duality is remarkably analogous to the way there is one group of Americans who think that the 2nd Amendment is critical in limiting the possibility that our nation will be overcome by a totalitarian regime and those who think that possibility is not only impossible but silly.

    October 7th has made many Jewish Americans in the second of the two groups realize that the possibility of our nation being overcome by a totalitarian regime is more likely than they had previously thought.

    And why is that? Its because these Jewish Americans believe that those Americans who say that October 7th is what “decolonization looks like” (referring to the disgusting behavior of the Hamas invaders) ascribe to a nihilistic philosophy which they call “the end justifies the means” and which I say translates quite nicely to “anything goes”, i.e. anything goes definitionally includes a re-occurrence of the Final Solution.

  27. And in an amazing turn of events CC™ shows the story of Dershovwitz realizing that Brandon’s actions against Israel are abhorent is actually about The Great Orange Whale.

    Completely unexpected.

  29. he has raised the lawfare questions, but other issues like religious liberty and the de construction of the basic stable social structure, seem to be a little outside his wheelhouse, admittedly it has been a slow evolution

  31. miguel cervantes:

    Are you implying Dershowitz has not written or spoken about those issues, or just that they’re not his main emphasis? There are only so many hours in a day. Also, are you aware of everything Dershowitz ever wrote or did? Because he certainly has written and spoken on religious liberty; for example this.

  32. Bauxite:

    Republicans may seriously regret failing to nominate a less self-destructive candidate this year. A more mainstream Republican, like Nikki Haley, could have won the votes of a lot of people like Dershowitz.

    Florida: 5,185,882 Republicans, 4,360,931 Democrats, 326,875 Minor Parties, 3,531,942 No Party Affiliation (NPA), Total = 13,405,630

    Chart – FL Party Reg 1972-2020 – scroll down to “Figure 2.4. FL Party Registration 1972-2020” chart. I believe that chart shows how DEM party has dropped in FL & NPA rose. Looks like the NPA also took some REP voters between 1994 – 2012 or so.

    First registered & voted in 2002 as a Republican. By 2004 I switched to the NPA because couldn’t stand the GOP Congress. Voted against the Democratic Party until this year. Was going to Vote for Biden after GOP went w/ Trump again (voted for Trump twice), but his sudden turn against Israel, and Trump’s wishy-washy & flip-flopping are leaving me w/o a Presidential candidate to vote for this year. Other than Christie, the GOP had a great list of candidates this year, but Trump & his MAGA mob worked hard w/ the MSM to destroy them all. A lot of Florida voters don’t like Trump, and I’m not sure how the NPA voters will vote this year, but I suspect that a lot of those are also tired of Trump.

    Normally vote against Congressional Democrat candidates, but will probably be voting against Republican candidates this year who are not fully supporting Ukraine. Ukraine support is going to be a major factor for me this year…

  34. So you would willingly allow the Democrats to destroy America to fund Ukraine? you need mental help.

  35. Alan Colbo:
    Based on their “whatever it takes” statements, your question is not rhetorical.

    Moreover, anyone who glances around and notices that their allies on an issue are McConnell, RINOs, Democrats, and the MSM should be alerted that they are on the wrong side and should rethink how they got there.

  36. Interim order: Supreme Court freezes funds to haredim eligible for enlistment — Supreme Court freezes support for yeshiva students eligible for enlistment, claims it issued order ‘in light of Attorney General’s position.
    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387558

    Good lord have mercy. They’re determined to break the country to pieces, and proud of it.

  37. Has Dershowitz recanted on Fed Gov has the power to vax you against your will? If so I missed it.

  38. One of the comments on the article sdferr linked to:

    “The legislature, a.k.a. Knesset, is irrelevant in Israel, as is the prime minister, pretty much. All power lies with the judiciary.”

    Seems to be a common problem.

  39. Neo.
    Recanting on any subject, no matter how quickly, requires having been okay with it to begin with.
    If Dersh were correct on all those items, then that he remained a democrat is a puzzle. If a party is consistently putting out serious items with which one disagrees, then you leave. He didn’t. So, at some point, up until the present and into the future, the issues at hand are….bad in some way but not disqualifying the party for promoting or enacting them.
    As a general rule, what the dems do wrong is the sort of thing republicans or other conservatives warn about and try to avoid. So, for an unknown but likely majority of the points at hand, he’s on the side of the conservatives eventually. Which should be a lesson, but something overrode that.
    Which is my point. Even if dems do wrong, they can do no wrong in the sense of being disqualified as a party/movement with which one wishes to be affiliated.

    The people I know are different from Dershowitz in that they are, purposely or not, ignorant. Some still think Michael Brown had his hands up saying “Don’t shoot!”. Some have no clue how horrible are the required readings parents try to read in school board meetings. Some have no idea what the cop body cams showed in the Floyd case.

    Dershowitz does not have that excuse.

  40. Richard Aubrey:

    I may write a post on this tomorrow or a bit after that. But I’ll answer briefly now. One thing I don’t think you understand is political affiliation and how deep it goes, and how very difficult it can be to make that break. There are other elements too with Dershowitz, which I plan to address in my future post.

  41. One thing I don’t think you understand is political affiliation and how deep it goes, and how very difficult it can be to make that break.

    –neo

    ^^^

    I sometimes wonder about cradle conservatives because most of them never had to go through that hot painful fire, undergo the hammer and anvil, and reforge their identities anew.

  42. During the Mexican-American War units of American Irish soldiers switched sides and fought for the Mexicans.

    They were perhaps the best troops we faced in the war. Although their desertion and treason no doubt gave them more reason to fight to the end than most.

  43. Boned Loser clearly states he is on Vladdy’s side (not that it has been unclear before).

  44. Jakhny on March 28, 2024 at 4:06 pm said:
    Here’s a little secret about Jewish Americans over the age of 50. We can be divided in two groups. Those that think that Naziism and the return of the Final Solution can re-occur in America and those that think that is impossible.

    In the American tradition, those on the “right” look to the Constitution and to the Founders. There’s no “far right” that’s in any way nationalist socialist. To go farther “right” you would see those who think we should have kept the Articles of Confederation (I’ve encountered a small handful who believe this). Or Loyalists who think we should have remained with Britian (I haven’t encountered right wing Americans who think this).

    To find anything nationalist socialist you have to look to the left.

  45. huxley:

    I wholeheartedly agree.

    Also, even among those who weren’t from a conservative area or conservative family originally, many were living in red states when they became conservative and never had to deal with ostracism from the general population of people they meet and with whom they interact.

  46. Neo. We are given the power of rational thought for a reason. [Sorry].
    If political affiliation is taking where you don’t wish to go, your rational thought is supposed to overcome emotional attachment to that which you rationally know to be wrong.
    Either Dersh lacks that capacity, or there’s something else he likes. Maybe they mean well, they just keep making innocent mistakes or something.

  47. “This is the first time that I am thinking of not voting for them.”

    How did he miss how anti-Israel Obama was? Or the efforts to relieve sanctions on Iran which ultimately frees up money that goes towards killing Jews?

  48. Alan+Colbo wrote:

    So you would willingly allow the Democrats to destroy America to fund Ukraine? you need mental help.

    Apparently you are the one in need of some serious “mental help” since you are voting for Russia over Ukraine…

  49. FOAF:

    He said something similar about voting for Obama in his second term – that he regretted it for those very reasons – which emerged after the vote in 2012. I plan to write about that in another post.

  50. Richard Aubrey:

    Do you really think you are Spock, operating utterly on rational thought alone? I can pretty much guarantee that you are not. Or perhaps you think that logic is dominant for you, despite your emotions – that you are only somewhat Spockish and in a good way. Most of us tend to think the same of ourselves – that our decisions, including our political decisions, are mostly rational.

    We all are a balance of emotion and logic, although the balance differs for different people, and we are not necessarily the best judges of what our own balance might be.

    One thing I can say about Dershowitz is that he seems far more rational about politics than most people. That is why, for example, that although he doesn’t like Trump he defended him during Trump’s impeachment trial.

  51. @Richard Aubrey @neo

    Re: Spockishness, i’s also note that Spock pointedly does not and almost never has run purely on logic or reason. Almost no Vulcan does. They are if anything even more emotional than humans are, at least naturally. And this helped manifest in multiple nuclear wars. The cooly detached, supposedly purely rational approach is basically an adaptation put forth by one of their philosophers to try and rein in their naturally intense passions and emotions.

  52. @ Turtler > “Almost no Vulcan does.”

    Especially half-human ones.

    Wikipedia confirms my memory of The Original Series: ‘Spock’s mixed human–Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character’s appearances.”

  53. I never realized that Alan Dershowitz was so unliked by so many in the GOP. Guess I’ve had him ranked with the likes of Joe Lieberman (RIP). To the left of David Horowitz for sure:

    Inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out.

    However, Horowitz was once waaaaaaaaaay further to the left than Dershowitz has ever been – ‘He identified as a Marxist intellectual.’ Another Horowitz quote:

    Politics is about winning. If you don’t win, you don’t get to put your principles into practice. Therefore, find a way to win, or sit the battle out.

    For almost 48 years there has been a back & forth of the Presidency—DEMs have almost 24 years and REPs had 24 years. Not even the combination of Reagan, H. Bush, W. Bush, or Trump could slow down the DEM’s getting their ‘Principles’ across.

    Republican Presidents have basically been useless, probably due to their erratic base—tho that is just a guess. Look at where the GOP House is at now, after they tossed out Kevin McCarthy—who I thought was doing a great job.

    I didn’t care for Mitch McConnell—possibly because I trusted what the right said about him. The disaster of Trump, who totally lacked any Leadership ability, was saved by McConnell, IMHO. For example, without McConnell Holding Trump’s hand (and basically the GOP’s hands) thru the three Supreme Court justices process, I doubt that the Supreme Court would’ve ended up with Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

    Have recently mentioned that the only way out of the left’s destruction of America was War—Civil or WW; however, this Post & Thread – plus my March 28, 2024 at 5:04 pm comment have given pause on that:

    Florida: 5,185,882 Republicans, 4,360,931 Democrats, 326,875 Minor Parties, 3,531,942 No Party Affiliation (NPA), Total = 13,405,630

    Chart – FL Party Reg 1972-2020 – scroll down to “Figure 2.4. FL Party Registration 1972-2020” chart. I believe that chart shows how DEM party has dropped in FL & NPA rose. Looks like the NPA also took some REP voters between 1994 – 2012 or so.

    Perhaps the ‘Pendulum of Life/Politics/Law/etc.’ will solve the issues instead…

  55. Mike Plaiss…”The biggest reason that Jews overwhelmingly vote democrat is not some natural predilection towards leftism. It is centuries of ingrained fear of being, not just the minority in a society, but “the other”. There is a difference. For the past 100 plus years they have instinctively believed the danger came from the right, from republicans. If democrats stay on the path they seem to have chosen, this could all change very quickly.”

    See my post The Phobia(s) That May Destroy America:

    https://ricochet.com/548927/the-phobias-that-may-destroy-america-2/

  57. @Banned Lizard

    Based on their “whatever it takes” statements, your question is not rhetorical.

    Indeed, and I have made my stance clear. While ii have been quite supportive of Ukraine and Israel and remain so, and I find quite a bit to admire in what Karmi said. Hell, I am even willing to prioritize support to both countries over my own from time to time.

    But I will not support either to the point of destroying or undermining the U.S., or leaving it at the mercy of the left. I have made my stance on that abundantly clear, as I have anpjt The war.

    Moreover, anyone who glances around and notices that their allies on an issue are McConnell, RINOs, Democrats, and the MSM should be alerted that they are on the wrong side and should rethink how they got there.

    What abject bullshit is this?!?!!

    Have you considered you are on the wrong side because you are on the same side as Vladimir Putin and the FSB, Xi and the CCP, the Kadyrov Clan, and the apocalyptic lunatics in the Iranian Mullahcracy?!?

    Oh, you don’t like it when the shoe is on the other foot? If your principle of “reasoning” is not something that should be applied universally, perhaps it is not so sound?

    I for one have thought and rethought how I got here in multiple aspects, including Ukraine and the war waged on it. I have talked about my doubts and leeriness about many in Ukraine and Ukrainian politics, including the support of more than a few in the Collusion smear campaign and how the story of things like Euromaidan are not nearly the story of black and white many want to act. But I have also talked about the Kremlin under Putin, its habitual perfidy, cruelty, and anti-Western inclinations, and its manifest dishonesty. I have talked about how it decided to align with our enemies both abroad and at home and how it has levied war on its neighbors while threatening more, and why it must be punished for that.

    I have also talked about encountering this “reasoning” and how fundamentally fallacious it is, since by logic the only virtuous course by its reasoning would be to support Daesh. In spite of that being not virtuous at all.

    Which is why it is important to know the merits of a case, not merely argue from guilt or virtue by association.

  58. neo
    Regarding Spock: My last duty station, 70-71, was in the States. It was pretty fat duty for an Infantry guy. Indoors, business hours, so forth. But it was Air Defense and we had three shifts, except for my office.
    I had just made First Lieutenant, big deal. I was getting ready to do something pretty difficult and one of the enlisted men said, “Gee, Sir. You’re like Mr. Spock. But I guess officers are supposed to be.”
    Bin Go.

    Anybody who doesn’t aspire to being Spock in matters of public affairs is betraying his polity and his fellow citizens.

    Standing next to a fouled well–metaphor alert–handing out yucky drinks and saying, “Yeah, that other well’s water is pretty good but the people who like it are icky. Some don’t even have college degrees. So, drink up.”
    “Well, maybe we have some penicillin around…..”

    If I could remember them, I suppose I could count them, but it would be a pretty big number. An agreed-upon course of action or one which is obvious is short stopped resulting in a minor or even moderate catastrophe–mostly domestic. The perp, the one who deliberately got off the obvious course of action and did that which should have been avoided for obvious reasons says, in an aggrieved toine, “I just wanted….[somethng involving unicorns with soft brown eyes] as if the catastrophe is, thus, not so bad or something.
    These people vote. “Yeah, things have gone to hell since Biden was elected but have you see the MEAN TWEETS!?”
    Six year olds should be able to do better, whatever their feelings about such things.

    A hundred thousand years ago, saying, “But the saber tooth cub was so cuuute!” is not the way to pass on one’s genes. Or those of the rest of the band.

  59. “…many Jewish Americans…realize that the possibility of our nation being overcome by a totalitarian regime is more likely than they had previously thought.”

    Gee, I wonder how we could possibly be taken over by a totalitarian regime…it’s hard to imagine!
    ——————————————–
    “To find anything nationalist socialist you have to look to the left.”

    Socialism is on the left?? Do tell!

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