Difference between revisions of "Alan Dershowitz"
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'''Alan Morton Dershowitz''' (born 1 September 1938) is an Jewish-American lawyer and political commentator. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.<ref>Alan M. Dershowitz, [http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=12 Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law], ''Harvard Law School'', Accessed 14-August-2009</ref> Dershowitz is also an outspoken advocate of Israel and has been involved in a number of high profile disputes with critics of Israeli policy. Dershowitz's academic output has faced strong criticism from opponents on both the right and left wing of the political spectrum<ref>Alexander Cockburn, [http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20031013&s=cockburn Alan Dershowitz, Plagiarist], ''The Nation'', 13-October-2009, Accessed 14-August-2009</ref><ref>Hadley Arkes,[http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/fall2005/arkes.html The Rights and Wrongs of Alan Dershowitz], ''The Claremont Institute'', Accessed 14-August-2009</ref>. | '''Alan Morton Dershowitz''' (born 1 September 1938) is an Jewish-American lawyer and political commentator. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.<ref>Alan M. Dershowitz, [http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=12 Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law], ''Harvard Law School'', Accessed 14-August-2009</ref> Dershowitz is also an outspoken advocate of Israel and has been involved in a number of high profile disputes with critics of Israeli policy. Dershowitz's academic output has faced strong criticism from opponents on both the right and left wing of the political spectrum<ref>Alexander Cockburn, [http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20031013&s=cockburn Alan Dershowitz, Plagiarist], ''The Nation'', 13-October-2009, Accessed 14-August-2009</ref><ref>Hadley Arkes,[http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/fall2005/arkes.html The Rights and Wrongs of Alan Dershowitz], ''The Claremont Institute'', Accessed 14-August-2009</ref>. | ||
Revision as of 19:57, 16 August 2009
Alan Morton Dershowitz (born 1 September 1938) is an Jewish-American lawyer and political commentator. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.[1] Dershowitz is also an outspoken advocate of Israel and has been involved in a number of high profile disputes with critics of Israeli policy. Dershowitz's academic output has faced strong criticism from opponents on both the right and left wing of the political spectrum[2][3].
Contents
Education and Career
Dershowitz studied a law degree at Yale University and graduated in 1962. He was an assistant professor at Harvard Law School from 1964 to 1967. He was awarded an MA in 1967 and has been a professor at Harvard Law School since. [4]
Norman Finkelstein and The Case for Israel
Norman Finkelstein alleged in his book Beyond Chutzpah that of the 52 quotations and endnotes in the first two chapters of Dershowitz's book The Case for Israel, 22 are almost exact replicas of another book. The other book In Time Immemorial by Joan Peters was also criticised by Finkelstein. Finkelstein argued that instead of quoting Peters as the source, Dershowitz cites the original sources from Peters' footnotes[5].
Finkelstein also alleges that Dershowitz's defence of Israel's human rights record during the second intifada is based on flawed or fraudulent data, which Finkelstein challenges with reports from organisations such as Amnesty International, the US-based Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organisation, B'Tselem. Says Finkelstein, "I juxtapose what he says is going on there and what is actually going on there."[6].
Finkelstein describes Dershowitz book as "among the most spectacular academic frauds ever published on the Israel-Palestine conflict." Finkelstein picks out many similarities between the books by Peters and Dershowitz, for example he says:
- On a note both humorous and pathetic, Peters, in From Time Immemorial and claiming to be inspired by George Orwell, coins the term "turnspeak" to signal the inversion of reality (pp. 173, 402). Dershowitz, apparently confounded by his massive borrowings from Peters, credits the term "turnspeak" to Orwell, accusing critics of Israel of "deliberately using George Orwell’s ‘turnspeak’" (p. 57) and "Orwellian turnspeak" (p. 153). Is this scandalous scholarship, or is it plagiarism, or is it both?[7]
Dershowitz responded by arguing that:
- Mr Finkelstein has accused me of not having written "The Case For Israel" but when I sent his publisher my handwritten draft, they made him remove that claim. He has accused virtually every pro-Israel writer, including me, of "plagiarism". I asked Harvard to conduct an investigation of this absurd charge. Harvard rejected it, yet he persists.[8]
Publications
- 2005: The Case for Peace : How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved
- 2004: Rights From Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights
- 2004: America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees
- 2003: America Declares Independence
- 2003: The Case for Israel
- 2002: Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age
- 2002: Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the threat, responding to the challenge
- 2001: Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000
- 2001: Letters to a Young Lawyer
- 2000: The Genesis of Justice: ten stories of biblical injustice that led to the Ten Commandments and modern law
- 1999: Just Revenge (fiction)
- 1998: Sexual McCarthyism: Clinton, Starr, and the emerging constitutional crisis
- 1997: The Vanishing American Jew: in search of Jewish identity for the next century
- 1996: Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case
- 1994: The Abuse Excuse: and other cop-outs, sob stories, and evasions of responsibility
- 1994: The Advocate's Devil (fiction)
- 1992: Contrary to Popular Opinion
- 1991: Chutzpah
- 1988: Taking Liberties: a decade of hard cases, bad laws, and bum raps
- 1985: Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Balow Case
- 1982: The Best Defense
- 1973: In Defense of Shahak, Boston Globe
Related Links
- Alan Dershowitz, Plagiarist, Alexander Cockburn, The Nation, October 13, 2003
- The Rights and Wrongs of Alan Dershowitz, Hadley Arkes, Claremont Review of Books, November 4, 2005
- Alan Dershowitz vs. Norman Finkelstein - A Debate, Democracy Now, September 24, 2003
- Nutty Professor Screams About "Plot" Against Him, Cites Troika of Evil, Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch, September 26, 2003
- Alan Dershowitz Exposed: What if a Harvard Student Did This?, Norman Finkelstein
- The Dershowitz Hoax
Notes
- ↑ Alan M. Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Accessed 14-August-2009
- ↑ Alexander Cockburn, Alan Dershowitz, Plagiarist, The Nation, 13-October-2009, Accessed 14-August-2009
- ↑ Hadley Arkes,The Rights and Wrongs of Alan Dershowitz, The Claremont Institute, Accessed 14-August-2009
- ↑ 'Alan Morton Dershowitz', The Complete Marquis Who's Who (R) Biographies, 10 February 2009, accessed via Lexis Nexis on 29 May 2009
- ↑ Gary Younge, J'accuse, The Guardian, 10-August-2005, Accessed 14-August-2009
- ↑ Gary Younge, J'accuse, The Guardian, 10-August-2005, Accessed 14-August-2009
- ↑ Norman G. Finkelstein, Alan Dershowitz Exposed: What if a Harvard Student Did This?, Norman G. Finkelstein, Accessed 14-August-2009
- ↑ Alan Dershowitz, Norman Finkelstein: the case against, The Guardian, 14-June-2007, Accessed 14-August-2009
