[Peace-discuss] Dershowitz blames Palestinians for Holocaust

[David Green]

 Submitted to the News-Gazette, not yet published:­

The Gies College of Business at UIUC, with the full support and likely the
primary instigation of Dean Jeffrey Brown, has invited retired Harvard Law
Professor Alan Dershowitz to speak on April 26th.

Brown was recently one of 17 faculty signatories to Cary Nelson’s letter in
the *Daily Illini*, “We do not need another acrimonious divestment debate
(regarding Israel) at UIUC.” This letter, signed by local Zionist
luminaries such as May Berenbaum, Richard Herman, Gene Robinson, and
Michael LeRoy, called for “nuance and context, providing students the
opportunity to learn in detail.”

In Dershowitz’s 2004 book *The Case for Israel* he states, regarding the
Nazi holocaust: “The Palestinian leadership with the acquiescence of most
of the Palestinian Arabs actively supported and assisted the Holocaust and
Nazi Germany and bears considerable moral, political, and even legal
culpability for the murder of many Jews.” (p. 54)

It's hard to imagine a less nuanced and contextualized statement regarding
Israel/Palestine. Nevertheless, this is characteristic of Dershowitz’s
pronouncements over decades. It’s similarly difficult to imagine a more
mendacious, lurid, and racist statement, again typical of Dershowitz’s
calumnies against the Palestinians.

In his own recent letter to the *DI*, Brown opposes divestment but
“welcomes debate” regarding Israel/Palestine. But welcoming Dershowitz
hardly seems an appropriate means toward such an end; not that Brown can
credibly claim to be more sincere. Brown goes about “engaging” Israeli
businesses, while Israel (with Dershowitz’s support) goes about the
business of gunning down unarmed protestors in Gaza, with Brown's
"acquiescence" if not worse.
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