Dershowitz defends Obama to NY Jews

Professor tells pro-McCain crowd that Obama is better for Israel due to his ability to push peace.

By ALLISON HOFFMAN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT IN NEW YORK
Dershowitz 88-224 (photo credit: )
Dershowitz 88-224
(photo credit: )
Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz took the stage at the New York premiere of his new documentary, The Case for Israel, prepared to defend the Jewish state against accusations of apartheid made by former US president Jimmy Carter. Instead, Dershowitz found himself defending a possible Democratic Obama administration to conservative Jews who argued that anyone who was worried about Israel should be for Republican John McCain. "Israel faces an existential threat from Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas... and [presidential candidate] Barack Obama wants to sit down with them," said one man who came to the microphone during a post-film question-and-answer session. "I believe Barack Obama is a danger to Israel," the man continued. Dershowitz was undeterred. He reminded the audience that Israel had been willing to engage with Arab states, including Iran, and argued that Obama would be a better friend than McCain because of his ability to engage European Quartet members and, potentially, Arab leaders in the peace process. Moreover, Dershowitz added, the results of next Tuesday's election ultimately won't change American policy on Israel. "Israel's fate will not turn on who is elected president, because we are one of the few countries in the world where Israel is not a divisive issue - not because of the Israel lobby, but because we all support Israel," Dershowitz said. He added impishly, "I'm glad that I can say with certainty that a lot of pro-Israel people will be on the winning side of the election." At 71, Dershowitz hardly cowers from debate, but he's spent most of the past two years arguing down ardently pro-Palestinian demonstrators who question Israel's legitimacy - some of whom appear in the new documentary shouting invective at the professor as police close in a protective circle around him. The 77-minute film, which had its world premiere last week in Haifa, includes interviews with an array of lawyers, politicians and academics, from President Shimon Peres to former Israeli Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, defending Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and questioning Carter's motivations in writing his recent book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. The film is also unsparing in its criticism of the United Nations for legitimizing the Palestinian narrative at the expense of Israel and, as Dershowitz said in his remarks at Monday's premiere, "of truth." He told The Jerusalem Post he wanted to make a film that could be shown on college campuses where anti-Israelism was considered chic - and where few were likely to read his book, which shares its name with the film. "I want to see it on YouTube, on Facebook - I will defend anybody's right to violate my copyright," he said. Doc Emet Productions, which made the film, plans a website and is seeking a formal distribution deal, producer Gloria Greenfield said. Yet the hecklers at Monday's screening - a sold-out event hosted by the Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America - were clearly not in the target market. They arrived already convinced of Dershowitz's case for Israel, and many wanted to know how he could make his film and still be for Obama. This was perhaps unsurprising, given that the film was made partly with the help of American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has been a lavish supporter of the Republican Party and the Republican Jewish Coalition this election year. Though more genteel and better-dressed than college protesters, they were equally firm in their positions. One woman interrupted Dershowitz's sarcastic listing of reasons to vote for McCain - which included "Sarah Palin" - to shout out "Security!" Dershowitz responded that it was time to acknowledge "the truth that many American Jews are way to the right of Israeli Jews," but said everyone should go ahead and "vote your conscience" - adding that it would be a tragedy if all Jews voted the same way and then found themselves on the losing side, with less ability to influence Washington debate. He said he was glad that many Jews' consciences still echoed, like his, the voices of the Bundists of 1930s Brooklyn. "The case for Israel cannot be only a right-wing cause - the case for Israel can be a liberal, progressive cause," Dershowitz said. "I happen to be a liberal, and I'm not going to change my views because of what you describe as realpolitik." Dershowitz did add one caveat: He told the Post that he did not know, even after the welter of debates this political season, how either candidate would really respond to an imminent threat from Iran. "The big unknown is how either an Obama or a McCain administration would respond if Israel were attacked," Dershowitz said. He added that it would be impossible to know until after the election whether Iran would in fact make concrete threats. He acknowledged that political transitions in both the US and Israel in the next five months added to the uncertainty - though he featured both Kadima leader Tzipi Livni and opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu in his film, and told the Post that he felt Peres had the support to represent Israel's interests and even to accept a peace deal if one were offered before the Israeli elections in February. To his audience, he insisted that what Israel wanted to do with regard to Iran or the peace process was up to Israel, not to US policy-makers or American Jews. "We don't get a vote, we don't get a veto," he said. "We in the US just get to express an opinion."