What Happened to Alan Dershowitz?

I've been annoyed by Alan Dershowitz's knee jerk defense of all things Israeli for the last few years, but I've generally chalked it up to the sclerotic effects of aging upon a once supple mind. But today's sophomoric Huffington Post piece on the IDF flotilla raid earns the booby prize for nationalistic preening. If I'd turned in such a conclusory piece of legal reasoning to a partner at my firm I'd get the ax. A summer associate is capable of better reasoning. Talk about black and white thinking. The Law of the Sea is nowhere near as simplistic as Dershowitz makes it out to be. No lawyer worthy of the name makes such bald conclusions regarding the legality of something as complicated as the IDF's seizure of the Gaza Flotilla on the High Seas. I don't purport to be any expert on the issue, but I certainly wouldn't write a hack piece like Dershowitz's without doing at least a bit of legal research. No one has ever cited Dershowitz as an expert in admiralty jurisdiction, but his pomposity blinds him to his ignorance of the subject matter. For a different take on the legality of the IDF's actions, and some interesting debate in the commentary, check out this link.

IDF Storms Ship, Kills Civilians While Shooting Self in Foot

Been busy of late in corporate lawyer world defending weakling multinational investment banks against the depredations of pension funds, but the Israeli Defense Forces' ("IDF") ham handed raid on the Gaza Flotilla roused me from my dogmatic stupor by sheer force of its stupidity.

First, we all know that the phrase "military intelligence" is oxymoronic, but what idiot at the IDF or the Israeli government authorized this raid? Did it not occur to the geniuses behind this raid that a disproportionate show of military force in international waters against people armed with sticks and knives is exactly what the publicity hungry activists wanted? Most people weren't paying attention to the Gaza blockade but every sentient news reader is now. And how many people would have paid attention if you'd just let the ships dock but you prevented them from unloading, or some other less ostentatious approach? Instead we've been treated to a display of Israeli dick swinging followed by Israeli self defensive whining now that people justifiably want to cut that dick off. Which brings us to point two.

Second, the reason no one except the obtuse buys the IDF's self defense justification for their homicides is because it's ludicrous. This was a white flagged ship in international waters attacked by commandos from one of the fiercest and accomplished armies in the world. The flotilla didn't try to board any Israeli vessels on the high seas, it was the other way around. If anyone was acting in self defense, it was the flotilla, not the armed to the teeth IDF.

Finally, how long can the Israelis kid themselves that they're not treating the Palestinians in the same despicable ways that the Jews have been treated for centuries throughout the world. Talk about losing you moral compass.