Dershowitz: from Israel Firster to MEK Firster for the Right Price

Alan Dershowitz and his 1% hedge fund manager friends at the Emergency Committee of Israel recently declared war on the Center for American Progress and Media Matters because M.J. Rosenberg has called some of Israel’s American Jewish supporters, “Israel Firsters.” Phil Weiss already pointed out the egregious historical error they’ve made in presuming the term was coined by anti-Semites seeking to highlight Jews’ less than robust commitment to their native country.

In fact, the term was first used by Prof. Abram Sachar in a debate with David Ben Gurion, whose views were that Jews around the world owed their primary allegiance to Israel, rather than their home countries.

On the strength of this historical nonsense, Dershowitz has announced it will be his life’s work to get M.J. fired and to get the Obama administration to renounce these think tanks who have the temerity to take an independent view of U.S. policy toward Israel.

I’ve introduced this post with the above story in order to more strongly highlight Dershowitz’s hypocrisy. He recently signed on to the Mujahadeen al Khalq gravy train, where he joins other “needy” Republican and Democrat leaders who are willing to sell their souls for a mess of terrorist porridge.

You see, if you’re a terrorist on behalf of Israel, as MEK is, then you’re kosher as far as Dershowitz is concerned. And your money is golden.[..]

How much money is the MEK dropping on Dershowitz? I’d be shocked if he’d sell himself any cheaper than $50K a pop. If anyone has actual figures on this please get in touch. Where does the money come from? Possibly from the Iran assassinations the MEK performs on Mossad’s behalf, which undoubtedly pay well. Then there’s the possibility that the $400-million Bush allocated for destabilizing Iran in 2007 has found its way either to the MEK or Mossad (or both).

Listen in the YouTube video above to his feigned moral outrage at the alleged “concentration camp” (Rudy Giuliani’s description) that is Camp Liberty(TTL), where 400 MEK terrorists are housed in Iraq. Then read Josh Rogin’s factual account (and this excellent follow-up) of the same story and, as they used to say in grade school, compare and contrast. After doing so you’ll understand that Dershowitz is a fabulist. He’s like that old country song that says put a quarter in the jukebox and I’ll sing that hurtin’ song again. Except that times have changed and Harvard lawyers are a lot harder to buy than old country singers. A quarter doesn’t go very far these days.

In his piece, Rogin notes that the same Camp Liberty [Temporary Transit Location] used to house hundreds of GIs during the Iraq war, and we never heard a peep from any of them (or Giuliani or Dershowitz) about it being a concentration camp. He also notes that it if anything it’s the MEK residents of the Camp who are rendering it uninhabitable:

…According to an Obama administration official who works on the issue, it’s actually the MEK that is trashing Camp Liberty[TTL] — literally. According to this official, the U.N. has reported that MEK members at Camp Liberty[TTL] have been sabotaging the camp, littering garbage and manipulating the utilities to make things look worse than they really are. While there are some legitimate problems at the camp, the official admitted, the U.N. has been monitoring Camp Liberty’s [TTL]water, sewage, and food systems on a daily basis and the conditions are better than the MEK is portraying.

Dersh spoke at a February 26th DC conference sponsored by MEK. There was an earlier December conference in Paris at which Tom Ridge, Howard Dean and a host of other luminary mercenaries spoke. They took advantage of the group’s largesse to get an all-expenses-paid trip

to the City of Light in return for mouthing platitudes about the eternal virtues of Maryam Rajavi, the queen-bee empress of the movement.

So the next time Dershowitz shoots off his mouth about M.J. Rosenberg, Media Matters or Center for American Progress, remember what you read and heard here. When it comes to bearing moral witness Dershowitz is about as impeachable as they come.

I do so love it when shady violent thugs like the MEK tout Dersh’s so-called street cred as a “human rights advocate:”

…One of the most prominent advocates of individual rights and the most well-known lawyer in criminal cases in the world…

The only human right he cares about is Israel’s “right” to do whatever the hell it wants to the Palestinians. As far as the rights of others go, he could give a crap. Unless of course, it serves Israel’s interests. Though I haven’t specifically heard him sounding off on this subject, you can be damn sure he’s morally outraged at what’s going on in Syria and demanding western intervention to topple Assad. Though I suppose it’s possible he may be concerned about whoever follows Assad being more hostile toward Israeli interests.

The conference at which Dershowitz spoke was hosted by the Global Initiative for Democracy. One thing you’ve got to say about MEK, they’re excellent co-opters of slogans designed to win the hearts of U.S. politicians and civic leaders. They touch all the bases and use all the appropriate buzzwords like “liberty” and “democracy.” If anyone who’s taking MEK cash thinks these people advocate democracy for Iran, let them take a look at the people they assassinated before they were run out of the country after the 1979 Revolution, or the Americans they murdered afterward. These are radical extremists (they’ve also been called a “political cult”) willing to use any and all means to gain their objectives. When it was convenient for them to kill Americans, they did so. Now that it’s more convenient and remunerative to kill Iranian scientists, they do so.