Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz has been working on forming an elite team of attorneys and legal experts from across the United States to defend Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant against arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
"The Wall Street Journal called it a dream team," Dershowitz said in an interview, Israel Hayom reported Saturday. "I reached out to dozens of colleagues, including some of the world's most prominent lawyers — two former US attorneys general, a former FBI director, and a former governor of New York."
The team, he said, will defend Israel and its leaders against the ICC and its "unjust and illegal attempts to arrest somebody without any justification."
The defense will extend beyond legal briefs, as the team will also defend Israel's case in the court of public opinion, said Dershowitz.
"Convincing the world that Israel's actions do not constitute war crimes and that the ICC lacks jurisdiction over Israel is critical," Dershowitz said. "We will also submit amicus briefs as friends of the court."
The warrants have divided the international community, with the United States rejecting the move while other countries such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Ireland all saying they will respect the ICC's warrants.
Germany has said that it likely will not comply, given Berlin's commitment to the Jewish people following the Holocaust. In addition, France said this week it considers Netanyahu immune from prosecution.
Dershowitz said he was not surprised by France's turnabout.
"It's 110% politics," he said. "If it was justice, we'd see arrest warrants for the leaders of Syria and Iran. Syria, for example, has committed such atrocious crimes not only against their own people but also against people in Lebanon and Israel. Iran obviously has of all kinds of war crimes on its hands."
Israel, however, remains the "only Western target in the history of the ICC with a functioning judiciary," Dershowitz said. " There's no question the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel."
He also confirmed reports from senior Israeli officials and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that ICC officials have canceled a trip to Israel, and accused ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan of betrayal.
"They had scheduled a meeting to look into the issue of Israel's judicial complementarity — a principle stating the ICC only intervenes if a country fails to investigate or prosecute crimes adequately," said Dershowitz, adding that he helped to arrange the visit.
At the time, we didn't know this, but Khan was under scrutiny for alleged misconduct," he said. "He decided to cancel the trip at the last minute."
Khan is facing accusations of sexual misconduct toward a female aide, and when Dershowitz was asked if he thought the prosecutor is being blackmailed, he said he did not know.
"I think he thought he would benefit from going after Israel," Dershowitz said. "Even his assistant was shocked that the trip was canceled. It's all 100% political."
Graham has called for the States to sanction countries going along with the ICC's warrants, and Dershowitz said that is a logical move.
"The ICC's next target will be the United States," he said. "That's why the US is concerned about the precedent the Israel case might establish…Americans do not want to see their soldiers — or those of their allies — subjected to phony trials in a foreign court. I think this warrant against Israel is a suicide note for the ICC. I think it will mark the end of the ICC."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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