Alan Dershowitz Is Wrong

by Jeremy Ben-AmiExecutive Director of J Street and JStreetPAC

Sometimes debaters stick to arguing the merits of their case. When facts and logic are on their side, they count on a rational audience to separate right from wrong and judge the winner on the merits.

Sometimes, recognizing that they're stuck with a losing argument, debaters resort to distortion, name calling, and other tactics to distract their listeners from the merits.

Who would know this better than Alan Dershowitz? As one of the premier litigators and legal minds of his generation and a veteran of decade after decade of making the "case for Israel," Dershowitz makes shrewd tactical choices in approaching the court of public opinion.

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What can they argue on the merits? That it's in America's interest for Israel to keep building settlements? That it's helping our efforts to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon for the Arab-Israeli conflict to go on just a little longer? That it wouldn't help America in pushing back against the forces of extremism in Afghanistan and Iraq to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

And what about those like Alan Dershowitz who argue the "case for Israel"? How can they argue against the president's effort? By saying that Israel will be more secure by maintaining the occupation for another 43 years? That it can remain true to the vision and values of people like Theodore Herzl and David Ben-Gurion by ruling as a minority over a majority non-Jewish population?

No. There's no case for the status quo, no rational argument that things will get better simply by "staying the course" - there is no way to win this argument on the merits.

So what do you do when you're dealt a really bad set of facts and the arguments run against you? You attack your opposition. You label your opponent - as Dershowitz does, saying J Street has "gone over to the dark side."

Really, Alan, what does that mean? That those who don't think ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a U.S. national security interest are the "forces of light"?

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Frankly, the kind of diatribe that you engage in, replete with falsehoods, name calling and guilt by association represents all that is wrong with the way the "case for Israel" has been made for far too long.

It's precisely this kind of slanderous campaign that you regularly run against anyone who disagrees with you. And it's precisely such tactics that lead to un-Jewish outcomes such as Judge Richard Goldstone being barred from attending his own grandson's bar mitzvah.

Your tactics are what makes being "pro-Israel" so unattractive that college students who do love and support Israel are afraid to be labeled "pro-Israel." They are not running away from Israel. They are running away from you...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-benami/alan-dershowitz-is-wrong_b_548647.html