It’s Been Quite the Week for Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz—the attorney and former Harvard law professor who’s defended Harvey Weinstein, former President Trump, and, of course, Jeffrey Epstein—is having quite the week. First, we read Dershowitz’s name in swirling reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tapped him to defend the country against genocide charges at the Hague next week. And then, late Wednesday, we read his name, again, in the notorious, newly unsealed Epstein documents—a compilation of 45 court documents that, through victims’ testimony and depositions, include the names of over 150 former associates of the disgraced human trafficker. (The docs were not, much to the disappointment of social media users, an Epstein “client” list.) Most of the names have already been made public, and include former presidents, celebrities, and, of course, Dershowitz.

In December 2022, court documents from 2017 were unsealed and revealed that one Epstein victim claimed Epstein had forced her to participate in a threesome with Dershowitz, among other sexual acts. But the latest unsealed docs from this week (which mention Dershowitz’s name over 100 times) specify that at one point, “Epstein forced then-minor Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with [Dershowitz], a close friend of Epstein’s and well-known criminal defense attorney.” The document continues, “Epstein required Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with Dershowitz on numerous occasions while she was a minor, not only in Florida but also on private planes, in New York, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

The new documents also include accounts from Epstein’s housekeepers who say that Dershowitz came to Epstein’s properties “pretty often” for, err, massages, and was “present alone… in the presence of young girls.” On Wednesday night, after the docs were unsealed, Dershowitz posted a 31-minute YouTube video titled “The Epstein list and guilt by association,” and maintained that he’s done nothing wrong.

Well, folks: This might just be the man who will defend Israel from charges of genocide brought forth by South Africa (and backed by Malaysia) during the hearing at the Hague scheduled for next Thursday and Friday. On Tuesday, an Axios reporter wrote that he called Dershowitz to ask about reports that Netanyahu has chosen him to represent Israel, and Dershowitz “didn’t deny it and said: ‘I can’t comment on that at this stage.’”

Dershowitz also stopped by Fox News on Wednesday to defend himself with a talking point that’s become fairly predictable at this stage: By calling on the women he allegedly victimized and their advocates to… *checks notes* condemn Hamas. “I want to have a list of all the radical feminists who are pushing hard, I understand that, to get all these names revealed. I want to know how many of them have ever actually condemned Hamas for the rapes,” Dershowitz said. It’s notably more obfuscation than denial. If all of this weren’t so incredibly bleak and violent, it would almost be comical: Men accused of rape have moved the goalposts for women’s credibility, yet again, this time to be measured based on whether they’ve condemned a foreign power.

In the lengthy, deeply disturbing filing charging Israel with genocide in the International Court of Justice, South Africa describes Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.” As of Tuesday, Al Jazeera reports at least 22,185 people have been killed, at least 57,000 have been injured, and thousands remain missing since Israel launched its offensive on Gaza in October. The Israeli death toll from Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 stands at 1,139 with about 200 people kidnapped. South Africa’s filing further alleges that “two mothers are estimated to be killed every hour in Gaza,” that Israel is wielding starvation and disease as weapons of war against civilians, and includes several pages quoting Israeli officials’ comments that seem to demonstrate genocidal intent.

Israel has denied South Africa’s charges and called them “absurd blood libel”—though, again, the court filing draws heavily from quotes given by Israeli officials. Dershowitz, too, has a history of criticizing the International Court of Justice, claiming in 2004 that the court was “founded” on discrimination after the ICJ determined that a wall Israel built in the West Bank is “contrary to international law.”

So, those are the alarming charges brought forth against Israel, and Netanyahu seems to think an 85-year-old man accused of child sexual abuse, with deep ties to a convicted sex trafficker, is the right man to take this on. What else can you call it but hubris, really?