Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has a love affair with Israel that has no bounds.
It’s therefore unsurprising that he supports Israel’s recent assassination in Dubai:
The complaints leveled against Israel by European countries and Australia, regarding the alleged misuse of passports by the Mossad in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, ring hollow and smack of blatant hypocrisy. Whoever did kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh—whether it was the Israeli Mossad or someone else—clearly did have their agents use stolen or forged passports. Big deal.
Every good intelligence agency uses stolen and forged passports. The British have been especially adept at this means of spycraft. No country that uses fake passports in their intelligence operations has the moral authority to complain about the alleged misuse of passports in this case. The only ones that have a legitimate grievance are those individuals whose passports may have been misused without their knowledge.
I guess it’s the job of foreign ministries to complain publicly when other nations do what they themselves do secretly. Hypocrisy is, after all, the homage that vice pays to virtue. I’m reminded of the famous scene in Casablanca, when officer Renault declares, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” A croupier then approaches Renault, and hands him a roll of currency: “Your winnings, sir.”
The hypocrisy in this case seems even more blatant than usual. Is it because Israel is the alleged offender, and the world has gotten accustomed to singling out Israel for double standard condemnation?
Shortly after the terrorist attacks in Bali, which killed a large number of Australian tourists, I had the opportunity to meet with the Australian Prime Minister. I was writing a book at the time on preemption, and I asked him whether he would have authorized a preemptive attack on the terrorist who killed Australian citizens, if such an attack would have saved their lives. His response was that Australia would have done anything it could, to prevent these terrorist attacks. Anything, I guess, except misusing passports! Is there anybody who believes that Australia would not have used forged or stolen passports to prevent the Bali massacres? If Great Britain could have stopped the London subway attack by misusing passports, would M6 have allowed the terrorism to go forward in the name of preserving passport integrity? Of course not. The same is true of Spain with regard to the Madrid bombing and to every other country in the world that seeks to prevent terrorism. Well, if the Mossad did in fact kill al-Mabhouh, they too did it to prevent the killing of their innocent civilians.
“Dubai should be conducting an investigation, but the focus should be on how simple it was for those carrying these phony passports to get into their country”
=> It’s all Dubai’s fault for harbouring terrorists
“Next time it may be a terrorist who tries to enter the country”
=> Exactly, just like the 26 Israeli terrorists who are now wanted by Interpol
“Wait! Isn’t that exactly what happened when al-Mabhouh walked through security using a real passport with his real name?”
=> Maybe he wasn’t a terrorist. If he was, why wasn’t he wanted by Interpol?
Wait! Israel said he was a terrorist, that makes him GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT or GUILTY UNTIL DEAD, whichever happens first.
“I guess in Dubai you don’t have to use a fake passport if you’re a terrorist”
=> Yet more proof that Dubai is harbouring terrorists
And Paul Howes and Alan Howe here in Australia are saying exactly the same things. It’s depraved really that anyone would support this sort of cold blooded murder without once considering what it might mean.
Open season and anyone by anyone.
Personally I’m glad that this turd is dead. The best part of the whole episode is watching the cockroaches crawl out and try to paint al-mabhouh as “innocent”. They’ll defend anyone if it gives them an apportunity to spew hate at Jews, oops, I meant “zionists”.
It is astounding that Dershowitz who has a rich and vast experience in criminal law would choose to reject the basic rule of law that noone is above the law; and that extra-judicial killing is an anathema to the law. Harvard University needs to question the benefit of retaining a law professor who is putting his own skewed and violent political agenda before basic principles of international law.
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Shaun your statement saddens me. With respect are you Jewish (and if so are you religious)? If so how do you interpret the following 2 texts? How do you interpret Gandhi’s statement; or Pax Christ’s or Virgil’s? What evidence do you have to prove that extrajudicial killing will decrease the possibility of violence? If you were born as a Palestinian Arab in Haifa in 1890, how would you have viewed the rule of the British after the fall of the Ottoman Empire; and of the ascendancy of the Jewish state in 1948 in the land of your birth and of your ancestors birth?
And yes nothing in these questions denies the deep spiritual, religious and/or cultural connection of Jewish people to the land; or denies the presence of a minority Arabic speaking indigenous Jewish community.
Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize this will end in bitterness? For how long before you order your men to stop pursuing their brothers?
2 Samuel 24:26. ‘Who is the hero?’ Ask the rabbis of the Talmud. Their answer: ‘One who changes an enemy into a [friend].’ Jay Rothman, Resolving Identity-based Conflict, 1997, p. xiii.
I object to violence, because, when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mohandas K. Gandhi “On the Verge of It”, Young India, 21 May 1925—as cited in Jim Wallis, The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision of Change, London: Fount, 1994 p. 205.
Where there is fairness and love…the violence disappears. Pax Christi.
Amore Vincet Omnea…Love conquers all… Virgil, 10th Eclogue (37 BCE).
http://palestineisraelquotes.blogspot.com/
Stuart , mate ! What possesses you to hope that Shaun has the slightest comprehension of what you are talking about ?
Hi Antony, one of your strengths is you are not afraid to publish articles by those who you disagree with. This Dershowitz article is a good example. Let us hear what this man has to say and we can see his bigotry displayed quite clearly. My problem with the Left is they often avoid publishing words and articles of those they disagree with. You are different. You print and let me make up my mind. I don’t just hear Antony Loewenstein’s point of view on your email and blog posts. Print the Zionist point of view and we can make up our own minds. As the days roll by, Zionism displays itself more and more clearly as a racist, fundamentalist ideology. Apartheid is an accurate description of the State of Israel. Israel does not represent the Jewish people any more than the Apartheid State of South Africa represented white people.
Shaun’s views are well known. He does not recognise Palestinian history, culture or national aspirations, nor does he recognise the Palestinians’ right to exist. To him, the Palestinians are illegally squatting on Jewish land. In fact he can’t bring himself to even utter the word “Palestinian” unless he hermetically quarantines it within quotes.
One last thing, to him the occupation doesn’t even exist, but even if it did, it’s forbidden to mention it.
See this previous thread…
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2010/03/03/prominent-australian-jews-including-peter-singer-reject-the-israeli-right-of-return/
S Kenan: you’re absolutely right.
I reckon Zionists like Dershowitz & Sean are the best promoters of the Palestinian cause…race supremacists have that impact on their target’s prospects.
Unfortuntaely, I can’t say the same thing for Fatah, who are simply US stooges. Their cave-in over Goldstone showed how they’re firmly on the US payroll (just like the Australian stooges Rudd & Abbott ..did I leave out Gaza Gillard, that other rabid Aussie Zionist)
Now that it’s well established that Hamas wants peace & will accept the existence of the State of Israel, it’s time for the Israelis to let Marwhan Barghouti out of jail (he was jailed ‘cos he was getting too powerful), so that he may lead a new unified Palestinian group made up of Fatah & Hamas elements.
I am curious what drives Shaun. Why so much hate and anger? Why such insensitivity towards people from a background other than his own? Where does his racial superiority come from? Parents? School? Peers? Why does he not see us all as brothers and sisters on this tiny fragile planet of ours? Is he religious? Even if he is not religious does he not see the irony in his claims when he considers the text mentioned in the Hebrew Bible? Particularly the passages quoted above. Would he be willing to go to synagogue with me; and see another side of the Jewish identity – a side that shows compassion, love, tolerance and respect; a side that seeks to share land rather than exclusively dominate, control and oppress. Or is that side of Jewish identity too confronting? What would Gandhi say to a man like Shaun? Why are you here Shaun? Are you here to help build relationships and understanding or is your intent on destroying and to hurt? I am sure that we have more in common than you think.
Shaun what is your response to the following song about Baruch Goldstein?
http://rabbibrant.com/2010/03/09/a-canticle-for-goldstein/
Best method to fight anti-Semitism would be for Israel to stop committing murder and mayhem and start behaving like human beings! Use the legal system to settle differences with others that they must share the planet with! Get over the idea that “God loves Jews best”! God is not a monster and only a monster god would love them best. Dershowitz is brainwashed and he performs like a parrot. He would probably think Hitler was a wonderful person if he had “holocaust” the Arabs!
Even though Shaun doesn’t recognize the Palestinians or their right to exist, in typical racist fashion he is now trying to shift the blame, the Palestinians and all of Israel’s problems to Jordan.
He is still hiding in the other thread (see above link).
You are right iResist – anyone who states that Palestine =Jordan (1) does not understand the historic foundations of Jordan/TransJordan in the first place. (2) Denies the fundamental rights of all those Palestinians born in places like Haifa, Akko, Jaffa, Ramle, Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah etc. etc..(3) leaves themselves open to the claim that they are racist.
I would be curious what Shaun thinks of someone like :
Rabbi Brant Rosen, Rabbi Brian Walt, Rabbi Michael Lerner or Marc Gopin
http://jewishpeaceactivists.blogspot.com/