Prof. Alan Dershowitz, on his visit to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, January 6, 2011, endorses SPME

Prof. Alan Dershowitz speaks off the record to a gathering of scholars at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

On the morning of December 6, Prof Alan Dershowitz, delivered an off the record breakfast briefing to Israeli scholars at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The meeting took place under the auspices of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA). Dr. Joel Fishman, Board Member of SPME and Fellow of the JCPA, chaired the meeting together with Ambassador Ret. Alan Baker of the JCPA. About thirty-five distinguished and promising Israeli scholars from all academic disciplines participated. Prof. Dershowitz spoke frankly and eloquently about current political academic issues in Israel and in North America. One of his notable observations was that the clients of criminal lawyers are not usually innocent.

Prof. Alan Dershowitz in SPME meeting in Tel Aviv (December 11, 2011)

On December 11 SPME together with the Academic College of Law and Business held a closed meeting between Prof. Alan Dershowitz and leading Israeli Academics on the issue of “Israel on the Campus: Challenges and Dilemmas Facing Israeli Academia.” The event was co-sponsored by SPME and the Academic Center of Law and Business (CLB) and was hosted by Prof. David Menashri, SPME Board Member and President of CLB. What added to the attraction was the fact that the meeting was held in the framework of the highly prestigious annual Globes‘ Israel Business Conference, which hosted Israel’s President and Prime Minister as well as top Israeli business and political leaders. The Globes newspaper reported the discussion in a detailed article and posted the picture of Prof. Dershowitz and Prof. Menashri standing with other guests of the Conference (Peres and Netanyahu).

The attendees were carefully chosen to include young academics (recent PhDs, Assistant and Associate Professors). There was a full-house with some 60 participants, more than expected. More than half were young. They came from different universities (such as Haifa, Tel Aviv, Hebrew University), mainly from Schools of Law, Government and Middle Eastern Studies.

This was a great intellectual exchange of ideas. Prof. Dershowitz brilliantly answered the questions from the audience, showing his unmatched analytical mind and clarity of argument. He presented a strong and persuasive defense of Israel and attacked recent attempts to de-legitimate Israel. Even if most people were aware of the difficulties facing Israeli and Jews in campuses, Prof. Dershowitz presented the complexities of the situation and pointed to ways to confront the challenge. He showed very clearly that while some of us may identify with the political left and some with the right, when it comes to the struggle for the legitimacy of Israel and its right to exist as the state of the Jews, the vast majority of us are on the same camp. This was the main impression that Prof. Dershowitz has left with the audience.

This event also created the bridge to the future. In fact, some of the young scholars who attended are willing to continue this initiative and participate in SPME activities. A meeting of interested young scholars will be held in Tel Aviv in March (after the winter break) with the hope of creating a nucleus of SPME young scholars.

Prof. Alan Dershowitz, on his visit to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, January 6, 2011, endorses SPME

Prof. Alan Dershowitz, on his visit to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, January 6, 2011, endorses SPME

SPME Board of Directors