From Epstein's associate to ‘defending Israel’ at ICJ, meet Dershowitz

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Palestine Chronicle + Al Mayadeen English
6 Jan 2024 13:47
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Shortly after initiating legal proceedings against "Israel" at the ICJ, the Israeli Prime Minister rushes to recruit Alan Dershowitz, a "client" in Jeffrey Epstein's list, to defend "Israel's" genocidal war on Gaza.

In this image from a video, Alan Dershowitz speaks during the impeachment trial against Trump in the Senate at the US Capitol in Washington on January 27, 2020. (AP)

Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly expressed a desire for US lawyer Alan Dershowitz to represent "Israel" at the upcoming International Court of Justice hearing next week, Barak David, an AXIOS reporter, said on a post on X on Monday.

This comes shortly after South Africa submitted, on December 29, an application initiating legal proceedings against "Israel" at the ICJ, seeking the court to prescribe "provisional measures".

In a newly published report, Palestine Chronicle delved into the matter at hand, exploring the intricacies of the situation.

On this note, Dr. Triestino Mariniello, an expert in international law, clarified to Palestine Chronicle that South Africa's request to the court seeks binding provisional measures to protect the human rights of Palestinians, including a halt to hostilities.

As per a press release from the ICJ on December 29, the application “alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

Eylon Levy, a spokesperson for the Israeli occupation, told journalists on Monday that "Israel" has authorized them to “appear before the International Court of Justice at The Hague to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel.”

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Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor with a history of defending high-profile individuals like OJ Simpson and former US President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial, is yet to confirm whether he will represent "Israel" at the ICJ.

However, following the revelation of hundreds of previously sealed documents from a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein, serious allegations, including accusations against Dershowitz, emerged. The unsealed court documents suggest that Dershowitz is accused of engaging in sexual acts with an underage girl, identified as "Jane Doe 3," on multiple occasions.

"The filings by attorneys for Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, in which Mr Dershowitz is named a total of 137 times, also allege that he witnessed other girls being abused,” as per The Independent.

“At the center of some of the most serious allegations was Epstein’s former attorney Mr Dershowitz, who had claimed earlier this week while appearing on NewsNation that he wanted every last document and ‘piece of paper’ to be publicly released – asserting that it would prove that he ‘did nothing wrong’,” The Independent further reported.

Dershowitz reportedly released a 31-minute video to address and defend himself against the accusations.

“We are so tempted to just assume that if a person’s name is on a list, oh, there must be something wrong,” he stressed in the video, emphasizing that it is “important to judge complicity, guilt, responsibility on an individual basis.”

In a recent interview for Fox News, he shifted the blame to Hamas instead of focusing on his association with Epstein and the mentions of him in the now-released dossiers. Dershowitz wanted "feminists, and radicals" to know that it's not "the worst thing in the world" to be a friend of Epstein's.

Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted pedophile, was charged with running a massive sex trafficking ring where government officials, UK royal family members, and celebrities are accused of raping minors. Instead of the actual rapes that Epstein facilitated for the world's power elites, Dershowitz wants the focus shifted to the Palestinian Resistance and fabricated unsubstantiated rape allegations.

Nonetheless, the 85-year-old lawyer has previously been implicated in the Epstein scandal. In 2015, Dershowitz denied allegations of engaging in sexual activities with an underage girl.

Dershowitz has been a longstanding defender of "Israel's" atrocities against the Palestinians. In a 2019 article for The Hill, he asserted that “the suffering of Palestinians, which does not compare to the suffering of many other groups, has been largely inflicted by themselves."