Alan Dershowitz to ALL ISRAEL NEWS: I can't stay in an anti-Israel party; 'Democratic Party is going into the waste bin of history'

There are political breakups…and then there are political earthquakes. What Alan Dershowitz is doing right now falls squarely in the second category. A lifelong Democrat – dating all the way back to his teenage years – Dershowitz is now walking away from the party he once called home, citing what he sees as a dangerous and undeniable shift on Israel and antisemitism. He's going from being a Democrat to a Republican. He’s not being subtle about it.

“I can’t be associated with a party that’s kind of leading the anti-Zionist, anti-Israel morphing into an antisemitic campaign," Dershowitz told ALL ISRAEL NEWS. "I made a decision to do something very difficult because I’ve been a Democrat since I was 14 years old.”

Dershowitz’s evolution didn’t happen overnight. For years, he positioned himself as a Democrat willing to defend Israel – even when it wasn’t popular in progressive circles. But lately, he says, the ground has shifted so dramatically that staying put is no longer an option. “When you turn against Israel today, you’re turning against America tomorrow," Dershowitz said. "That’s been proved over time when you’re turning against Western values, Judeo-Christian values and values of decency so I think the Democratic Party is going into the waste bin of history.”

Dershowitz said the consequences of his views have been both personal – and professional. “The New York Times just completely banned me. I was their most frequent op-ed legal writer, but as soon as I defended Donald Trump, I got banned completely from the New York Times. But now they’re giving a platform to Hasan Piker because he’s so close to Democrats. Rahm Emanuel, Bernie Sanders, all these people are now getting in bed with a Nazi, a real Nazi. I mean, not just a pseudo Nazi, but somebody who might as well be wearing a swastika.”

Piker has indeed been embraced by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others, including one of the leading Democrat Senate candidates running in Michigan.

Meanwhile, as the Democratic Party embraces anti-Israel figures, Jewish organizations are giving him the shaft. “The 92nd Street Y won’t allow me to speak. Temple Emanu-El won’t allow me to speak...I’m perceived of as being anti-Democratic and pro-Republican, and it’s just horrible.” In his view, this isn’t just disagreement – it’s exclusion.

Here’s where things get especially interesting. Dershowitz said he’s not alone – just one of the few willing to say it out loud. “Oh, I know that for a fact," Dershowitz revealed to ALL ISRAEL NEWS. "In fact, I probably got 20 phone calls and emails just when I wrote my op-ed in the Wall Street Journal saying, ‘You speak for me, thank you for saying it,’ but they don’t want to say it…They’re terrified about alienating their family members.”

He’s especially direct when it comes to Jewish Americans who remain aligned with the Democratic Party. “They are missing the warning signs…I don’t see how any Zionist can be a Democrat today…members of my own family, my own friends, have remained Democrats, even though they’re strong supporters of Israel. I think they’re making a serious, serious mistake. If they think they can turn the Democratic Party around, God bless them. But I don’t think that’s a possibility at this point.” His comments reflect a growing debate within the Jewish community about where political loyalties should fall in a rapidly shifting landscape

Dershowitz doesn’t just see criticism of Israel as a policy disagreement. He sees a pattern. He believes Israel is held to a moral double standard and called it out in our interview. “It’s antisemitism. People who claim to be pro-Palestinian have never heard of the Kurds, have never done anything on behalf of the Uyghurs,' have never said a word on behalf of the Sudanese who are being subject to real genocide, aren’t even speaking out on behalf of the Ukrainians. It’s only the Palestinians. When you’re only pro-Palestinian and you’re neither a Palestinian or an Israeli, you’re a bigot, you’re an antisemite. You can’t be a human rights activist and only focus on Israel and the Palestinians…We have a double standard, and the double standard is bigotry and antisemitism. There’s no other term for it.”

Then there’s the geopolitical angle – specifically, claims that U.S. President Donald Trump is being influenced or “controlled” by Israel, particularly by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Once again, an old trope unfolds that 'the Jews' control everything. Dershowitz dismissed that outright.

“It’s the protocols of the Elders of Zion all over again," Dershowitz exclaimed. "Anybody who says that Israel is pulling the strings on the puppets… What Trump is doing is based on principle, not politics… Supporting Israel is in the best interests of the United States…so any claim that Israel is pulling the strings or Israel is making the decisions for Trump is both stupid, ignorant, and bigoted. There’s no other way around that.” He’s not just rejecting the argument – he’s labeling it as historically rooted antisemitism.

We should note that even coverage of his political switch has sparked controversy and now he's considering a lawsuit against some Israeli news outlets. “When the Israeli media reported my switch to the Republican Party, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and The Jerusalem Post, both, as part of this story, wrote that I had been accused of sexual misconduct in the Epstein case. Neither of them, however, said that the woman who accused me made it up and acknowledged that she had may have been mistaken, misidentified me with someone else. So I’m actually thinking about suing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Jerusalem Post, unless they file a correction immediately.”

In other words, he clearly sees he is fighting a moral battle, and possibly soon a legal one as well.

As for how Alan Dershowitz plans to tackle the future, he said he'll try to influence the political direction of the United States. “I decided I had to devote all my energy to making sure the Democrats do not control the House, do not control the Senate, do not control the presidency, because that would all be bad for America, for Israel, for peace.”