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News > World

Dershowitz Defends Notorious Alt-Right Trump Appointee

  • Alt-Right Leader and Trump Appointee Steve Bannon and the President-Elect

    Alt-Right Leader and Trump Appointee Steve Bannon and the President-Elect | Photo: AFP

Published 16 November 2016
Opinion

The prominent pro-Israeli personality Alan Dershowitz says those charging Bannon of anti-Semitism must be “very careful.”

In an interview with extreme right news outlet Breitbart News Alan Dershowitz, a prominent supporter of Israel´s illegal occupation of Palestine, came to the defense of former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon´s appointment as Donald Trump´s chief strategist.

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“I think we have to be very careful before we accuse any particular individual of being an anti-Semite," Dershowitz said on Tuesday in an interview with Breitbart´s Aaron Klein. "It is not legitimate to call somebody an anti-Semite because you might disagree with their policies,” he added.

Bannon came to prominence as the chief executive of the far-right news outlet Breitbart, a haven for white nationalists, promoting the kind of racism, Islamaphobia, and misogyny which became a central part of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Before being appointed as White House chief strategist, Bannon served as Trump's campaign chairman.

Many have noted that Dershowitz's defense of Bannon and his concern about the misuse of accusations of anti-Semitism are highly ironic given his own history of accusing critics of Israel of anti-Semitism.

In the past, Dershowitz has accused Black Lives Matter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former President Jimmy Carter and former U.N. Human Rights Council appointee Judge Richard Goldstone, among others, of anti-Semitic “blood libel” for their criticisms of Israel´s policies towards Palestinians.

Dershowitz's defense of Bannon came in stark contrast to the growing chorus of critics calling on Trump to reverse his appointment.

In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday U.S. Senator Harry Reid´s called for Trump to rescind his appointment of Bannon, who Reid called “a champion of white supremacy.”

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The Southern Poverty Law Center – an anti-hate speech watchdog – wrote in an open letter, “Bannon presided over a news empire where he, according to former staffers, ‘aggressively pushed stories against immigrants, and supported linking minorities to terrorism and crime’.

It continued “Under Bannon, Breitbart published a call to ‘hoist [the Confederate flag] high and fly it with pride’ only two weeks after the Charleston massacre when the country was still reeling from the horrors of the murders. Under Bannon, Breitbart published an extremist anti-Muslim tract where the author wrote that ‘rape culture’ is ‘integral’ to Islam. Worse perhaps, Bannon personally insinuated that African Americans are ‘naturally aggressive and violent’.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said, “The appointment of Stephen Bannon as a top Trump administration strategist sends the disturbing message that anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and White nationalist ideology will be welcome in the White House. We urge President-elect Trump to reconsider this ill-advised appointment if he truly seeks to unite Americans.”

Bannon, called the “Leni Riefenstahl of the Tea Party movement” by Breitbart founder Andrew Breitbart in reference to the notorious Nazi propagandist, has a long history of anti-Semitism.

Former Breitbart writer Ben Shapiro wrote after his resignation from the website that it was “shot through with racism and anti-Semitism” and Bannon´s ex-wife said in a sworn statement that “he said he doesn’t like Jews” and didn’t want his children to go to school with Jews. The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement saying it “strongly opposes” the appointment of a man “who presided over the premier website of the ‘alt-right’ — a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists.”

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