What about the recent comments of Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, who launched an unprecedented attack on politicians, saying that some Knesset members and even a cabinet minister were inciting and delegitimizing the court? I would not describe what President Beinisch said as an attack. I would describe it as an appropriate defense of the independence of the judiciary. She is, after all, the head of the judicial branch. There are three branches of government in all democracies: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. She’s the head of the judicial branch. If not her, who? If not now, when?She has an obligation to defend the independence of the judiciary, and I thought she did a very credible job in defending the independence of the judiciary. The worst thing that could happen is to turn the judicial branch into yet another political branch, as it is in so many countries in the world today. The independence of the judiciary is essential to democratic governments.You’ve made very strong cases for Israel, peace and democracy. Do you think that if Israel remains the only thriving democracy in the Middle East, it could improve its standing in the international arena? Whatever Israel does is turned against it, particularly in Europe, particularly in northern Europe. Israel can do no right in the minds of the Scandinavians, in the minds of the Norwegians, in the minds of many of the members of the United Nations. Let me give you an extreme example. The New York Times’s lead op-ed last week explained why Israel has gay rights, and the thesis of this, the stupidest article I ever read in The New York Times, was [that] the only reason that Israel has gay rights is to cover the fact that it treats its Arab and Palestinian population so terribly.So whatever Israel does positively is going to be turned against it by these idiots... and by the hard Left. Israel should never do anything in order to please the Left. It won’t work. It should do what it does because it’s the right thing to do, because it’s good for Israel, because it’s good for peace, because it’s good for the important Israel-American relationship, but Israel should never ever try to satisfy the UN, should never try to satisfy the hard-Left NGOs, it should never try to satisfy northern Europe. It will never have an effect.Do you think it’s still about packaging, and Israel is presenting its case all wrong?No, I don’t believe that. Look, we can always improve how a case is presented. I teach my students in legal advocacy that there’s never a perfect argument. You can always improve your argument. But how do you respond when you have a wonderful advertising campaign by Israel to bring gays to Israel and make it a gay tourist destination, and then that’s turned against Israel? Or other campaigns that have been used. Look, Israel makes mistakes, too. The recent campaign effort trying to suggest that American Jews aren’t authentic, and that we’ll all be assimilated and that the only answer to the problem of Jewish survival is aliya, that wasn’t the smartest campaign ever. It alienated a lot of American Jews.So the packaging has some effect, but it’s the reality that Israel is the Jew among nations. Just like packaging couldn’t have improved the status of Jews in Germany in the 1930s, or the status of Jews in Russia at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, there’s a limit to what packaging can do.So what would your best advice be to Netanyahu and the current Israeli government? I have to tell you that in one area I do agree with Leon Panetta, only in this one area. I do think that Israel should do everything necessary to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table, and make a generous offer, of the kind they’ve already made, and let the world see that the Palestinians are the ones rejecting the offer. I think the world has to see that Israel is prepared to make a compromise, that Israel is prepared to accept the two-state solution, Israel is prepared to make terribly painful territorial compromises about areas that are the heritage of the Jewish people. I’m not saying anything new here. It is the position of Israel’s government that it is possible, without concern for its domestic policies, to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table. Let them say no. Let them be the ones to reject a deal. Let them say yes, that would be even better.The tragedy is that it got so close, twice. It got close in 2001, just before [former US] president [Bill] Clinton and [former prime minister] Ehud Barak left office; it got very close just before [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert left office. We’re not close today, although substantively, I think the distances aren’t all that great, but there should be negotiations without preconditions, on either side.Look, Prime Minister Netanyahu said we can’t make peace unless the Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. I agree with that, but he never put that as a precondition. That’s part of the negotiation. So why are settlements a precondition? What should happen is, there should be immediate negotiations toward broad general borders, and then settlement activity can continue in the areas that are going to remain part of Israel and should stop in those areas that will not remain part of Israel.So the cart shouldn’t be put before the horse. Building should occur once there is a decision, an agreement, about what the ultimate borders should look like, and that can be done in a relatively short period of time.What do you say to those who argue that the Palestinians have taken the unilateral route to international recognition, that the PA is more interested in making peace with Hamas than with Israel, and that there is no Palestinian peace partner at the moment? It’s very possible there is no partner for peace at the moment. It’s very possible that the Palestinian leadership has decided that their interests have been served by going the unilateral route, or the UN route. But let the world see that. Let Israel make it clear that it is prepared to negotiate a two-state solution, and let the Palestinians say no. Look, I think their gambit at the UN has failed, and I think that there, great work by the Israeli and the United States governments pulled the rug out from under the Palestinian efforts at the UN. It doesn’t mean they won’t get some recognition from the General Assembly, but that’s not worth the paper it’s written on, and the issue is, let’s let the world see who is the nay-sayer and who is the yes-sayer. Israel wants peace and wants a two-state solution. Let them make it feasible for the Palestinians to sit down, and then we’ll see if there’s a partner for peace. We’ll only know that once the negotiations begin.One final question. Are you looking forward to speaking at The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York in April? The Jerusalem Post Conference that’s planned for the US sounds fantastic. I’m really looking forward, if my schedule permits, to participating in it. The people who have agreed to speak are among the great leaders and great voices. I think the conference should be sensational.It is important to me that you allow me to add a word of thanks by specific mention of the following in more than a passing reference.I certainly want to thank Globes for inviting me and giving me a voice at their prestigious platform. I would really like to add a special word of thanks to my friend and former student Danny Grossman, who organized all details of this and all my trips in a tireless and efficient manner. If Danny had been in charge of the Six Day War, it would have been over in three days.He has for years helped strategize and carry out public diplomacy efforts in making “the case for Israel.”I am delighted that while I was here, I was able to help launch a new effort by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East that will help organize teachers and professors engage in a fair and honest discourse on campuses around the world.Students come and go, but it is the faculty that inspires and sets a tone that will affect the way future presidents and prime ministers, business leaders and people in all walks of life think about our region. ■
Charging his batteries in Israel
Alan Dershowitz is upset with the Obama administration’s policy, but still believes the Netanyahu government should make a generous offer to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
What about the recent comments of Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, who launched an unprecedented attack on politicians, saying that some Knesset members and even a cabinet minister were inciting and delegitimizing the court? I would not describe what President Beinisch said as an attack. I would describe it as an appropriate defense of the independence of the judiciary. She is, after all, the head of the judicial branch. There are three branches of government in all democracies: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. She’s the head of the judicial branch. If not her, who? If not now, when?She has an obligation to defend the independence of the judiciary, and I thought she did a very credible job in defending the independence of the judiciary. The worst thing that could happen is to turn the judicial branch into yet another political branch, as it is in so many countries in the world today. The independence of the judiciary is essential to democratic governments.You’ve made very strong cases for Israel, peace and democracy. Do you think that if Israel remains the only thriving democracy in the Middle East, it could improve its standing in the international arena? Whatever Israel does is turned against it, particularly in Europe, particularly in northern Europe. Israel can do no right in the minds of the Scandinavians, in the minds of the Norwegians, in the minds of many of the members of the United Nations. Let me give you an extreme example. The New York Times’s lead op-ed last week explained why Israel has gay rights, and the thesis of this, the stupidest article I ever read in The New York Times, was [that] the only reason that Israel has gay rights is to cover the fact that it treats its Arab and Palestinian population so terribly.So whatever Israel does positively is going to be turned against it by these idiots... and by the hard Left. Israel should never do anything in order to please the Left. It won’t work. It should do what it does because it’s the right thing to do, because it’s good for Israel, because it’s good for peace, because it’s good for the important Israel-American relationship, but Israel should never ever try to satisfy the UN, should never try to satisfy the hard-Left NGOs, it should never try to satisfy northern Europe. It will never have an effect.Do you think it’s still about packaging, and Israel is presenting its case all wrong?No, I don’t believe that. Look, we can always improve how a case is presented. I teach my students in legal advocacy that there’s never a perfect argument. You can always improve your argument. But how do you respond when you have a wonderful advertising campaign by Israel to bring gays to Israel and make it a gay tourist destination, and then that’s turned against Israel? Or other campaigns that have been used. Look, Israel makes mistakes, too. The recent campaign effort trying to suggest that American Jews aren’t authentic, and that we’ll all be assimilated and that the only answer to the problem of Jewish survival is aliya, that wasn’t the smartest campaign ever. It alienated a lot of American Jews.So the packaging has some effect, but it’s the reality that Israel is the Jew among nations. Just like packaging couldn’t have improved the status of Jews in Germany in the 1930s, or the status of Jews in Russia at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, there’s a limit to what packaging can do.So what would your best advice be to Netanyahu and the current Israeli government? I have to tell you that in one area I do agree with Leon Panetta, only in this one area. I do think that Israel should do everything necessary to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table, and make a generous offer, of the kind they’ve already made, and let the world see that the Palestinians are the ones rejecting the offer. I think the world has to see that Israel is prepared to make a compromise, that Israel is prepared to accept the two-state solution, Israel is prepared to make terribly painful territorial compromises about areas that are the heritage of the Jewish people. I’m not saying anything new here. It is the position of Israel’s government that it is possible, without concern for its domestic policies, to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table. Let them say no. Let them be the ones to reject a deal. Let them say yes, that would be even better.The tragedy is that it got so close, twice. It got close in 2001, just before [former US] president [Bill] Clinton and [former prime minister] Ehud Barak left office; it got very close just before [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert left office. We’re not close today, although substantively, I think the distances aren’t all that great, but there should be negotiations without preconditions, on either side.Look, Prime Minister Netanyahu said we can’t make peace unless the Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. I agree with that, but he never put that as a precondition. That’s part of the negotiation. So why are settlements a precondition? What should happen is, there should be immediate negotiations toward broad general borders, and then settlement activity can continue in the areas that are going to remain part of Israel and should stop in those areas that will not remain part of Israel.So the cart shouldn’t be put before the horse. Building should occur once there is a decision, an agreement, about what the ultimate borders should look like, and that can be done in a relatively short period of time.What do you say to those who argue that the Palestinians have taken the unilateral route to international recognition, that the PA is more interested in making peace with Hamas than with Israel, and that there is no Palestinian peace partner at the moment? It’s very possible there is no partner for peace at the moment. It’s very possible that the Palestinian leadership has decided that their interests have been served by going the unilateral route, or the UN route. But let the world see that. Let Israel make it clear that it is prepared to negotiate a two-state solution, and let the Palestinians say no. Look, I think their gambit at the UN has failed, and I think that there, great work by the Israeli and the United States governments pulled the rug out from under the Palestinian efforts at the UN. It doesn’t mean they won’t get some recognition from the General Assembly, but that’s not worth the paper it’s written on, and the issue is, let’s let the world see who is the nay-sayer and who is the yes-sayer. Israel wants peace and wants a two-state solution. Let them make it feasible for the Palestinians to sit down, and then we’ll see if there’s a partner for peace. We’ll only know that once the negotiations begin.One final question. Are you looking forward to speaking at The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York in April? The Jerusalem Post Conference that’s planned for the US sounds fantastic. I’m really looking forward, if my schedule permits, to participating in it. The people who have agreed to speak are among the great leaders and great voices. I think the conference should be sensational.It is important to me that you allow me to add a word of thanks by specific mention of the following in more than a passing reference.I certainly want to thank Globes for inviting me and giving me a voice at their prestigious platform. I would really like to add a special word of thanks to my friend and former student Danny Grossman, who organized all details of this and all my trips in a tireless and efficient manner. If Danny had been in charge of the Six Day War, it would have been over in three days.He has for years helped strategize and carry out public diplomacy efforts in making “the case for Israel.”I am delighted that while I was here, I was able to help launch a new effort by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East that will help organize teachers and professors engage in a fair and honest discourse on campuses around the world.Students come and go, but it is the faculty that inspires and sets a tone that will affect the way future presidents and prime ministers, business leaders and people in all walks of life think about our region. ■