Constitutional law expert and former Democrat Alan Dershowitz recently made headlines when he left his longtime political party to become an independent voter. Dershowitz told Newsmax on Thursday that his break with the Democrats was a long time coming.
"It's difficult," Dershowitz said during an appearance on "National Report." "Every single member of my family is an active Democrat. Most of my friends are active Democrats. This is one of the hardest decisions I've ever made and it's a personally difficult decision. But I've always lived my life based on principle, and I'm going to continue.
"I'm 86-years old. I'm not going to change now and become a partisan hack. I'm going to make decisions based on what I think is best for the country, best for the world, best for world peace."
Dershowitz said that the last straw for him was the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month, which he called "the worst, most anti-Israel, most anti-American convention" he's seen in the almost 70 years he's been watching them.
"The people they platformed are some of the most hateful voices in America: [Minnesota Attorney General] Keith Ellison, who may be the next attorney general if [Vice President Kamala] Harris is appointed; the Rev. [Al] Sharpton, who led pogroms against Jews in Brooklyn and Manhattan; and then the president of the United States getting up there and pointing to the horrible rioters outside who were calling for victory for Hamas and burning American flags and says they have some good points," he said. "Then [Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz, the man running for vice president, says these protesters are protesting for all the right reasons. No, they're not.
"They're protesting the very existence of the state of Israel and, deep down, they're really protesting America. This is not my party."
After 73 years of working for the Democrats, Dershowitz said he has "reasons to vote against both" presidential candidates this election and is "still up in the air" about who he will ultimately cast his ballot for.
"I haven't made up my mind," he said. "I have no presumption any longer in favor of voting Democrat. I am going to evaluate every candidate on their merits."
Commenting on the presidential candidates' debate earlier this week, Dershowitz said Harris gave a "very bad answer" when she talked about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
"She put the blame on all the wrong people," he said. "Of course people are being killed, innocent people, because Hamas is using children as human shields. They have what's called the dead baby strategy. They use babies as shields in order to get them killed so they can parade them in front of CNN cameras.
"And yeah, there ought to be a cease-fire. Israel is in favor of a cease-fire. It's Hamas who's against the cease-fire. An honest answer would have been Hamas is opposing a cease-fire and the reason Hamas is opposing a cease-fire is they're winning the fight among Democrats, and they're turning Israel into a partisan issue rather than a bipartisan issue. And so Harris and her party bear a lot of responsibility for the continuing fighting in Gaza."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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