Alan Dershowitz—Is He the Face of a New McCarthyism?

Dershism is the Means by which Trumpism Spreads

Dershowitz with Israeli and U.S. Flags Interlocking in Lapels on Either Side

Last week, I wrote: “Alan Dershowitz—Is He ‘Insane’, or Just ‘Out of His Mind’?”  I then followed up with: “Alan Dershowitz—Is He a Spreader of ‘Trump Contagion’?”

In doing so, I decided to describe what Dershowitz is incessantly engaging in, and what he has come to represent, through the term “Dershowitzism”—explaining that this is a dangerous, new kind of McCarthyism, as well as a major manifestation of what I have termed, “Trump Contagion.”  Indeed, Dershowitzism is now rampant throughout the land.  It is a new, current-day variant of the abhorrent and vengeful phenomenon that swept across America in the 1950’s, known as McCarthyism, which required the Justice Earl Warren-led Supreme Court and other brave souls to step in and put it down.  

I will abbreviate this to “Dershism”, as Dershowitz himself often refers to himself as Dersh, and “Dershism” approximates better its kin, “Trumpism”.  As Dersh now venomously targets politicians, business people, universities, journalists, media, professors, and students—anyone who speaks out in any support of the Palestinian people, or anyone who criticizes Israel’s policies or even does not support Israel forcefully and vocally enough.  According to Dershowitz, all are anti-Semites who support terrorism, and they should all be shunned from the media, professionally defamed, and fired from their jobs.  Does this sound familiar?

McCarthyism, let us remember, targeted anyone who dared speak up in any way against the escalating Cold War and the military-industrial complex with being branded a Communist, a supporter of evil Russia, and consequently being banned from government, the arts, and universities.  Even Robert Oppenheimer was seriously defamed before his recent “vindication” with Kai Bird’s and Martin Sherwin’s American Prometheus, which became the Blockbuster film, “Oppenheimer”.

I name Dershowitz, since someone who vindictively targets and seeks to destroy those he does not like is usually himself too thin-skinned to be called out for his lack of decency.  However, the more society cowers from naming bullies, the more emboldened and violent they become, and this is exactly what happened with Donald Trump.  This is why I and my colleagues risked our careers to warn against Trump early in his presidency, but Jeffrey Lieberman and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) chose to capitalize on the opportunity for favors by shutting us down.

Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, and almost any dictator, for that matter, begin their destructive campaigns by seizing control of the narrative.  When down becomes up, black is white, and the perpetrator is the victim, they can instead attack to compensate for their real or perceived lack (all are essentially plagued with profound feelings of inadequacy, which is at the root of the problem).

That is why, as I wrote a few days ago, I have nominated Dershowitz as the face of Trump Contagion in our country.  There is now such vindictive and erroneous vilification of anyone in Washington, in the media, at the United Nations, or at our universities who uses history and facts to support the dispossessed and tries to end a brutal military occupation—basically, opposes the oppressor—Dersh intervenes.

Just as Donald Trump, in a far larger context, has encouraged and legitimized extremists, so Dersh has encouraged and legitimized the new extremist, anti-Palestinian, anti-factual, and anti-free speech and -free thought strain of Zionism.

Whatever one’s views about what is taking place before our eyes in the once Holy Land, it is fundamentally not an issue of Israel versus Palestine.  It is a matter of humanity being against itself, and by further advantaging the advantaged and further victimizing the victims, Trump and Dersh (along with Netanyahu) helped fuel the violent Hamas attacks and the current brutal war.

Violence is usually the end product of a long process.  It is therefore the time for very open, intense, and learned discussions, lectures, and thoughtful debates at our elite universities and in our major media about how we can reduce and prevent the violence that harms everyone—not to short-circuit thought, to weaponize grief for more war, and to intimidate any opposition through a new McCarthyism.

This is why I say Dershism is dangerous.  Regardless of whether the Harvard and Yale communities shun Dersh the way Martha’s Vineyard already has—such that he seems incapable of setting foot in them, as at my invitation—he should not retaliate by spewing his venom through right-wing propaganda media that have already proven scientifically to be harmful to the public’s health.

And when it comes to our government, Dershism brings out its sickness.  The two parties that together control Congress both persecute anyone who speaks up, as they did during McCarthyism, with condemnation, censure, threats, and cutoff of funding.  The Biden administration even formally told the United Nations Security Council, while singularly vetoing the ceasefire resolution everyone else supported, because the Israelis are “our people”!  This is the way Dersh thinks, as visibly seen in his display of lapels all over him, depicting both flags intertwined together in each.

Dershism is not yet dominant, but Democracy Now, many excellent online publications, independent journalists, podcasts, and the much better-resourced corporate media are not seriously and consistently coming forward to challenge this alarming new McCarthyism.  We must go to the Guardian of the U.K. for any debate on what I have termed Dershism.

Here are quotes from a recent panel of experts that the Guardian convened: 

“The McCarthy era taught us that when campuses engage in ideologically motivated efforts to police student and faculty speech, those efforts not only backfire but severely damage the foundation on which academic communities are built.”

“… a new McCarthyism was already widespread on American college campuses….  It’s only going to get worse, and it is time to sound the alarm.  Today, conservatives are using their political power to punish pro-Palestinian speech, including through chilling legislation that conflates support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and terrorism….  Once the idea of punishing ‘offensive’ speech gains acceptance, both on and off campus, anyone with political power can get in the game….  To return to a place of sanity in public debate, we must take the principles of free speech both seriously and literally.”

“The US Congress, Ivy League universities, and other centers of power have been gripped by a ginned-up hysteria aimed at silencing, intimidating and interrogating people and institutions for not being sufficiently pro-Israel.  The absurd nature of the allegations being thrown around … will surely generate analogies to McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare.”

“So-called watchdog groups have long countered pro-Palestine activity on US college campuses with tactics including aggressive monitoring, blacklisting, and intimidation.  These groups … share broad goals of smearing Palestinian and Muslim students and professors as antisemites and terrorist sympathizers.”