Jewish Congressman calls Alan Dershowitz a Nazi collaborator
Attacks like this only further divide the nation, Dershowitz said.
By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDSAlan Dershowitz at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, May 7, 2017(photo credit: SIVAN FARAG)
Alan Dershowitz has slammed a Jewish Democratic Congressman for calling him a Nazi collaborator.Tennessee Congressmen Steve Cohen was making himself "part of the problem rather than part of the solution" by indulging in the attack, Dershowitz said. The Congressman's accusation followed a recent TV appearance by Dershowitz, in which another panelist attacked Lt.-Col. Alex Vindman, who was due to testify, regarding US President Donald Trump’s call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Trump impeachment hearings."When the attack on Vindman occurred, I had never heard of him and had no idea why he was being vilified," Dershowitz explained in an op-ed for JNS. " Since I had no knowledge to offer, I remained silent about Vindman and continued to discuss the subject at hand, namely impeachment.""As soon as I learned who Vindman was, I did three things: I tweeted a strong statement criticizing the accusation against Vindman, describing him as a patriot who served his country; I went on TV and publicly apologized for my silence, explaining that I knew nothing about the issue at the time; I then wrote an op-ed declaring Vindman to be a patriot and calling on Republicans to “stop their smears"Despite this, Cohen later criticized the attack on Vindman, commenting that “Dershowitz sat there, listening like a quisling.”Vidkun Quisling was a well known Nazi collaborator and strong supporter of Hitler. His name has become a descriptive noun meaning collaborator, traitor and Nazi."The crowning irony is that Cohen was criticizing me for remaining silent while someone else wrongfully called Col. Vindman a traitor," Dershowitz said. "Yet, Cohen himself was prepared to call me – a patriotic American and a liberal democrat – a quisling."The further irony is that Cohen went on to bemoan how divided we have become as a nation: 'We are separated tremendously.' Of course, we are separated – and Congressman Cohen is part of the problem rather than part of the solution."
He added: "Shame on Congressman Cohen for calling a fellow liberal Democrat and a fellow Jew a Nazi collaborator. He insults both the memory of the victims of real Nazism and only divides the country even further."