Alan Dershowitz returned to Newsmax’s Sunday Report with a blunt message that should unsettle every decent American: there is no excuse for anti‑Semitism, and it is rising on both sides of the aisle. The longtime legal scholar and former Democrat told host commentators that the country cannot tolerate hatred disguised as political discourse, and that leaders must speak plainly and act.
Dershowitz did not spare his own side; he openly rebuked prominent conservative figures who have given platforms to extremists, saying shame falls on those who normalize or excuse neo‑Nazi and Holocaust‑denying views. His admonition was firm: being conservative does not mean tolerating anti‑Jewish bigotry, and the right must police itself if it wants to remain a party of principle rather than grievance.
At the same time, Dershowitz excoriated the left for what he described as campus and street protests that have crossed into outright hostility toward Jews and Israel, labeling many demonstrations as more akin to neo‑Nazi attacks than legitimate protest. He warned that conflating legitimate criticism of policy with calls for the destruction of a people or a nation is not dissent but a form of hate that demands condemnation and consequence.
The interview also revealed Dershowitz’s own political break: long associated with the Democratic Party, he told viewers he has become an independent after witnessing anti‑Israel and anti‑Jewish rhetoric at party gatherings that he could no longer stomach. That personal pivot is a sobering signal that the mainstream arguments about big tent politics are fraying when one side shelters rhetoric that appears to excuse or downplay Jew‑hatred.
From a conservative perspective, Dershowitz’s words should be a call to sober action rather than partisan chest‑thumping. Republicans must root out the fringe elements that flirt with extremism while Democrats must confront the radicals on their campuses and in their caucuses; both parties need to return to a shared American norm that protects religious minorities and rejects tribal scapegoating.
This moment demands more than pious statements: it demands leadership that will name the enemy and fight it across the political spectrum. Americans of good will — regardless of party — should welcome Dershowitz’s refusal to let anti‑Semitism be trivialized, and insist that our leaders back words with policies and consequences to protect Jewish communities and preserve the moral fabric of the nation.
