Dershowitz: Obama Must “Expose and Fire” Officials, ADL Disagrees: Case Closed
News Press Release
November 10, 2014

Renowned Harvard law professor and ardent Zionist Alan Dershowitz made it clear that the case is not closed regarding the Obama officials who personally attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “chickens—t” and a “coward” — taking a stance that opposes ADL/Foxman’s position that the case on this issue is “closed.”

On Thursday, November 6, Professor Dershowitz told Newsmax TV host of “Midpoint,” Ed Berliner that President Obama “must get to the bottom of this, find out who the two people are who made those statements, expose them, and fire them.”

Dershowitz added that “Congress can have hearings to determine who those two senior White House officials are who used those terrible words about PM Netanyahu. 

The well-known economist and commentator Ben Stein has recently stated on national television that he is shocked that the Obama administration has gotten away with all of this with no repercussions.

Dershowitz made clear that Congress can and should compel testimony from Administration officials and demand the identities of Netanyahu’s ad-hominem critics, and he also added that the President has a role to play whether Congress prods him or not. In responding to this ugly personal attack against the Prime Minister of the Jewish State of Israel, the White House spokesman’s reply was weak and insulting by merely calling, it “inappropriate,” “counterproductive,” and “not our position.”

Also, in response to a barrage of questions by the press, the White House spokesman Josh Earnest repeatedly avoided responding to whether the Obama Administration will seek to identify the Administration officials who made those remarks, and whether the President will fire them. 

Surely, if these remarks were made against the PA’s dictator/President Abbas, Turkey leader Erdogan, or even Iran’s leaders Rouhani or Khameni, not to mention any other leaders who are allies to America, the officials would have been exposed and fired. 

The disgraceful language senior Obama officials used defame the Jewish State and its Jewish Prime Minister. The Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman’s duty was to exhibit Jewish self-respect by making it clear that the episode is not over until President Obama apologizes for these officials’ words, identifies them, and fires them. If ADL’s Foxman would not exercise that duty, they had no right or authority to declare the case closed. They are not the arbiters of the Jewish community. The ADL speaks only for themselves and their supporters.

The President should be made to understand that he cannot get away with anything less than an apology, and identifying and firing these officials, especially given the other ugly name-calling that has been attributed to Obama’s officials such as calling Prime Minister Netanyahu, “obtuse, blustering, pompous, and aspergery.” Obama even said to the President of France through an unknown open microphone which recorded him complaining, “I have to deal with Bibi every day.”

The well-known economist and commentator Ben Stein has recently stated on national television that he is shocked that the Obama administration has gotten away with all of this with no repercussions.

Other ADL Decisions

The ZOA questions ADL/Foxman’s decisions, especially in light of their judgment in other cases –  proclaiming that the Klinghoffer opera is not anti-Semitic, and proclaiming that the Nike ads showing Jewish stars on evil clone soccer players’ uniforms are not anti-Semitic.

There have been other troubling decisions that ADL has made, such as its vote to support the extremist left-wing phony pro-Israel group, J Street’s entrance into the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. (The group did not gain admission). 

ZOA will also never forget Abe Foxman publicly stating that Arafat “earned” the Nobel Peace Prize, and that Arafat’s rants for “Jihad” were simply calls for a “Jihad for peace.”

All of these and other ADL decisions are perplexing in light of the organization’s stated mission to fight the defamation of Jews and Israel.

 

Our Mission
ZOA STATEMENT
The ZOA speaks out for Israel – in reports, newsletters, and other publications. In speeches in synagogues, churches, and community events, in high schools and colleges from coast to coast. In e-mail action alerts. In op-eds and letters to the editor. In radio and television appearances by ZOA leaders. Always on the front lines of pro-Israel activism, ZOA has made its mark.
Center for Law & Justice
We work to educate the American public and Congress about legal issues in order to advance the interests of Israel and the Jewish people.
We assist American victims of terrorism in vindicating their rights under the law, and seek to hold terrorists and sponsors of terrorism accountable for their actions.
We fight anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses.
We strive to enforce existing law and also to create new law in order to safeguard the rights of the Jewish people in the United States and Israel.