These Won’t Help
Nor Will This
What do Alan Dershowitz and Marty Peretz have in common these days? Choose from the following list:
(a) They’re both part of the Harvard community
(b) They’re both “public intellectuals” (whatever that means)
(c) They’re both outspoken
(d) They’re both Islamophobes and bigots
(e) They’re both obviously Jewish
(f) They’re both proudly Liberal
According to the MSM and the university establishment, a through e are correct, but f is now seriously in question by the intellectual powers that be. In almost parallel instances, Peretz and Dershowitz have been cast in the roles of the “Jew among the intellectuals.” The common thread that unites the two right now is their staunch defense of the Jewish State, Israel. And for that reason, alone, they have been sent out into the wilderness burdened with their people’s guilt.
For decades both have been stalwart standard bearers of Liberalism and the Democratic Party. Peretz, as owner and editor of the venerable magazine, The New Republic and Dershowitz as Harvard’s Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, “attorney for the damned” (and occasionally, the well-heeled), have supported Democrat candidates since time immemorial. Both supported and campaigned vigorously for Barack Hussein Obama for President. Their big “L” liberal credentials are long established.
Dershowitz, whose books and speeches in defense of Israel are legion, spends a good part of every presentation on the Middle East conflict establishing his Liberal bona fides ranging from the Civil Rights struggle to women’s rights, not to mention the rights of Palestinians to their own state. Peretz has lent his name and money to the campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry. If this is the case, then what was their unpardonable offense that led to their rapid and precipitous fall from grace?
Both men have fallen prey to the current hysteria and witch hunting of those who would root out any dissenters from the prevailing tyranny of “Islamophobia.” and moral relativity. “Jews” (used advisedly) like Glenn Greenwald of Salon and MJ Rosenberg of Media Matters have placed themselves in the vanguard of the Jewish Left which will brook no defense of Israel or dissent from their alliance with Islam.
Peretz has since apologized for his comments of last month:
“But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims,’’ He went on to say:“. . . I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.’’
Sadly, an investigative door was opened by his comments, but quickly shut. Considering the pervasive death cult practiced by many radical Muslims, both of their own lives and the lives of innocents – both Muslim and non-Muslim – the “cheapness” of life among them might have been worth exploring. If it were not for 9/11 and the 16,000 additional terrorist attacks that have occurred since that date, none of us would be having a discussion on the nature of the politico-theology called Islam. And considering recent polls in the Muslim world that show an overwhelming number of adherents favoring strict Shariah Law, his other point about the First Amendment seems particularly valid for discussion. As to whether Muslims should be granted the benefits of our Constitution, he has made this apology:
” I wrote that, but I do not believe that. I do not think that any group or class of persons in the United States should be denied the protections of the First Amendment, not now, not ever. When I insist upon a sober recognition of the threats to our security, domestic threats included, I do not mean to suggest that the Constitution and its order of rights should in any way be abrogated. I would abhor such a prospect. I do not wish upon Muslim Americans the sorts of calumnies that were endured by Italian Americans in connection with Sacco and Vanzetti and Jewish Americans in connection with communism. My recent comments on the twisted Koran-hating reverend in Gainesville will give evidence of that. So I apologize for my sentence, not least because it misrepresents me.”
All to no avail. Peretz and Dershowitz now occupy the Ninth Circle of the Left. No matter what apologies are forthcoming, they bear the stain of incorrect politics. And that was evident at a recent book event at Boston’s venerable Old South Church at which Dershowitz discussed his novel, The Trials of Zion” along with Palestinian Arab-American, Susan Abulhawa and her novel, “Mornings in Jenin” (whose original title was “The Scar of David” – no kidding). Ms. Abulhawa’s presentation quickly descended into a screed against Israel and Jews complete with David Ben Gurion’s genocidal comments which have long been exposed as forgeries. No amount of left-wing merit badges could spare Dersh the ire of the crowd. Even when he cited the incontrovertible evidence that the Palestinians’ national hero for decades, Haj Amin al Husseini, was an active participant in the Holocaust, urging Hitler and Himmler to murder the Jews even faster than they were doing – the graying, pony-tailed, faux-Jewish crowd were screaming for Dershowitz’s blood. In true Stalinist fashion, they tried to silence him, but he gave as good as he got.
But like Van Helsing’s garlic or wolfsbane, the magic amulet of correct, left wing beliefs will prove ineffective in warding off antisemitism. It’s time Alan Dershowitz realized that he has been expelled from academia’s garden of eden. He’s fighting the good fight, however as is Marty Peretz.