ALAN DERSHOWITZ CALLS JIMMY CARTER AN "ANTI-ISRAEL BIGOT"

March 3, 2008

ALAN DERSHOWITZ CALLS JIMMY CARTER AN "ANTI-ISRAEL BIGOT,"
SAYING THAT HE HAS NO SYMPATHY FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE

"If you're an Israeli, Carter doesn't like you. If you're an Arab or a Muslim, he likes you."

Also dismisses Brzezinski-Obama connection and tackles religion in politics and Haredi Jews in a wide-ranging interview
March 3, 2008 (Fort Lee, NJ) -- In an exclusive cable television interview, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz blasts President Jimmy Carter's lack of understanding of the Jewish people, saying that there's "a special place in hell reserved for somebody [who] has literally become such an anti-Israel bigot.

"He has no sympathy or understanding for the suffering of the Jewish people--for the plight of the Jewish people," Dershowitz tells Shalom TV's Mark S. Golub. "He loves every Muslim extremist he can find. He thought the former president of Syria--Assad--was a wonderful man. He bounced Yasser Arafat's children on his knee and loved Yasser Arafat and his crooked wife who stole three billion dollars from the Palestinian people, but he never had a kind word to say about almost any Israeli, except a few on the hard left who maybe tended to agree with him.


"If you're an Israeli, Carter doesn't like you. If you're an Arab or a Muslim, he likes you."

And while Dershowitz describes Jimmy Carter as a "terrible president," he does not link Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security advisor, with presidential primary candidate Barack Obama.

Brzezinski is "not an advisor to Barack Obama. I've checked that our very very carefully. [Brzezinski] himself volunteered to meet with Barack Obama over the issue of Iraq, and Barak Obama, through one of his major surrogates, indicated that he would never take advice from Brzezinski on Israel. So, he satisfied me."

However, Dershowitz remains troubled by the injection of religion and faith into primary campaigns, blaming Republicans and Democrats alike.

"They had a debate one night where each [candidate] described in detail how important Jesus was in their life," relays Dershowitz. And "I love what Romney said when he was running--'In America, anybody can run for President. We don't care about their religious views as long as they accept Jesus as their personal savior.'

"Thomas Jefferson would be turning over in his grave. Jefferson was personally a religious man, but he never would allow his religion to be, in any way, part of his public life."

Regarding the current Democratic hopefuls, Dershowitz feels "Barack Obama has way way way overdone religion. He's trying to overcome the false notion that he has some sort of sympathy with Islam, and therefore he is more Christian than the Christians." And while he was somewhat proud of Hillary Clinton for stating "as a Methodist, we don't wear our religion on our sleeve," he has no tolerance for comments on how her faith helped "during times of crisis."

"I don't want to hear that," protests Dershowitz. "I want to hear what your policies are."

On the issue of church and state, Dershowitz directs his broadest salvo for members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community who are willing to trade out first-class citizenship for government subsidies.

"When the government starts giving out money, it has a big influence," explains Dershowitz. "When I was growing up, Orthodox Jews didn't get any money from the government. Today, [through] faith-based initiatives, some money has trickled down to the Jewish community, and some--particularly in the Haredi community--see dollar bills.

"I'm appalled at some of the Orthodox Jewish organizations having such a short-sited view of the history of the separation of church and state. I would hope they would see the bigger picture."

Shalom TV [www.shalomtv.com], the nation's first Jewish cable television network, is available coast-to-coast on Comcast, as well as on Time Warner Cable in New York and New Jersey, and on Blue Ridge Communications. More than 15 million homes now have access to the free network.