‘Dershowitz is wrong’, says Israeli legal expert about famed attorney’s siding with anti-Netanyahu protesters

By World Israel News Staff

In an interview Sunday morning with Army Radio, world-renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz weighed in on the side of the opposition, saying that had he been in Israel Saturday night, he would have joined the protests against the new government’s planned judicial reforms, led by Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

Thousands on the Left demonstrated Saturday night in Tel Aviv, claiming the reforms would bring an end to democracy.

Israel’s democracy is not in danger,” Dershowitz condeded, but the reforms are a threat to “civil liberties” and “minority rights.”

“Indeed, the reforms are designed to improve democracy: majority rule. What’s in danger are civil liberties, minority rights…

“There’s a direct conflict between pure democracy, where the Knesset rules because it represents the majority of people, and the rights of minorities and civil rights, which the [High Court of Justice] of Israel is designed to protect.”

According to the world-renowned attorney, known also for defending the Jewish state, it will be “much harder” to defend Israel in the public arena if the reforms are implemented.

Legal expert Eugene Kontorovich disagrees.

“Professor Dershowitz is wrong about the impact of Israel’s proposed judicial reforms on international investigations,” said Kontorovich, director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, which has advocated judicial reform in Israel for a decade.

“Israel’s assertive judiciary did not stop the International Court of Justice from condemning it in a 2004 decision. The supposed international respect for the Supreme Court has done nothing to stop the International Criminal Court from illegally and absurdly recognizing a ‘State of Palestine/ in all of the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], including in Jerusalem.

“Nothing short of unilateral, complete Israeli withdraw from all these territories would ward off further hostile action from these hostile, politicized bodies,” he said.

“It is sad that Dershowitz is choosing to weaponize these biased bodies to promote one side in a domestic Israeli legal argument.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the opposition for leading demonstrations against the reforms, citing then-finance minister Yair Lapid and former justice minister Gideon Sa’ar, main instigators of the protests who already in 2014 had pushed for change in the judicial system.

Dershowitz is a friend of former Israeli Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, a leader in the fight to prevent the implementation of the new reforms.

“Barak is the Justice who effectively created judicial tyranny in Israel. Current reform efforts to bring Israel’s democracy back into balance is in response to his years of judicial abuse,” tweeted American conservative radio host Mark Levin. Kontorovich shared the “important thread.”