Donald Trump’s then-defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz answers questions from US senators during the president’s impeachment trial. Photo: Reuters/US Senate TV

With political controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s pivot toward a reluctance to release further files on the crimes and associates of Jeffrey Epstein — the late multi-millionaire sex trafficker who committed suicide at 66 on Aug. 10, 2019 — his former attorney Alan Dershowitz has started to speak out, addressing speculation promoted by both left-wing and right-wing influencers of alleged involvement by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

Dershowitz — an emeritus professor of law at Harvard University, prominent pro-Israel advocate, and author of the new book The Preventive State: The Challenge of Preventing Serious Harms While Preserving Essential Liberties — flatly rejected the suggestion that Epstein had worked as a spy.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Dershowitz said that if Epstein did have intelligence connections, then the disgraced financier would have revealed them to him in order “to try to get him a better deal” with the initial prosecutions that resulted in what has widely been characterized as a light sentence received on June 30, 2008. “That’s not something he would keep from his lawyers. That’s something he would tell his lawyers,” Dershowitz explained.

Recounting a conversation with his former client about working with spies, Dershowitz said, “we discussed it, and the answer was no. He laughed. No intelligence agency would really trust him.”

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett affirmed Dershowitz’s position, saying on Monday that “with the Mossad having reported directly to me, I say to you with 100 percent certainty: The accusation that Jeffrey Epstein somehow worked for Israel or the Mossad running a blackmail ring is categorically and totally false.”

Bennett identified the theory’s most prominent advocate, saying that “this accusation is a lie being peddled by prominent online personalities such as Tucker Carlson pretending they know things they don’t.”

On Friday at the Turning Point USA summit in Tampa, Florida, a gathering of right-wing college student activists organized by the group’s CEO Charlie Kirk heard Carlson lay out his personal speculations about the Epstein case.

“And I think the real answer is Jeffrey Epstein was working on behalf of intel services, probably not American,” Carlson, a former Fox News host turned podcaster provocateur, told attendees. “And we have every right to ask, on whose behalf was he working? How does a guy go from being a math teacher at the Dalton School in the late 70s with no college degree to having multiple airplanes, a private island, and the largest residential house in Manhattan? Where did all the money come from? And no one has ever gotten to the bottom of that because no one has ever tried.”

Carlson added, “Moreover, it’s extremely obvious to anyone who watches, that this guy had direct connections to a foreign government. Now, no one’s allowed to say that the foreign government is Israel because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that’s naughty. There is nothing wrong with saying that. There is nothing hateful about saying that. There’s nothing antisemitic about saying that. There’s nothing even anti-Israel about saying that.”

Carlson claimed that accusations of antisemitism for those asking questions about potential Epstein-Israel connections inspired broad feelings of resentment.

“And you have the right to expect your government will not act against your interests, and you have a right to demand that foreign governments not be allowed to act against your interests. That’s not creepy. It shouldn’t be forbidden,” Carlson said. “And yet all of us have trained ourselves to believe that you can’t say that somehow. That that’s like too naughty and forbidden. And the effect of making that off-limits has been to create a lot of resentment and I’ll say it, hate online, where people feel like they can’t just say, ‘What the hell is this? You have the former Israeli prime minister living in your house? You have all this contact with a foreign government. Were you working on behalf of them? Were you running a blackmail operation on behalf of a foreign government?’”

Carlson asserted broad support for his conspiracy theory, saying, “By the way, every single person in Washington, DC thinks that. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t think that. I don’t know any of them that hate Israel. But no one feels they can say that. Why? And I think the longer we play along with it, the more subterranean and creepy and hateful the conversation becomes. So, I think it’s better just to say it right out loud.”

Megyn Kelly, also a former Fox News anchor-turned-podcaster like Carlson, defended his position and offered profanity for those who would question her pro-Israel bona fides.

“Tucker’s saying what his opinion is, which is not outside of the mainstream at all, that he thinks Epstein worked for Mossad or was it was somehow an asset to them,” Kelly said. “Even if you’re in my position, you get lunatics out there. Who accuse you of being like antisemitic because you are exploring this theory, which is such utter bulls–t. And honestly, like I will just say this for the record, if you think that those kinds of smears are going to stop me from reporting, you haven’t been paying attention to my career at all. If anything, when you accuse me of s–t like that, I will double, triple and quadruple down. It tells me that I’m onto something. So nice try, but you’ve chosen the wrong person.”

Kelly added, “I’ve been a defender of Israel, so people who say I’m not can f–k off. They don’t know me at all. I’m allowed to figure out what Jeffrey Epstein’s actual connections were. And if that leads me to our government or Israel’s, too bad!”

Earlier this month, actor John Cusack had also explored speculations of potential Mossad-Epstein connections when he shared a meme linking the deceased sex offender to the Mossad through pointing to accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert Maxwell. He deleted the post two hours later.

On Wednesday, during an oval office meeting with Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the prime minister and crown prince of Bahrain, US President Donald Trump condemned Republicans who continued to ask questions about Epstein.

“Some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net, and so they try and do the Democrats’ work,” Trump said. “I call it the Epstein hoax. Takes a lot of time and effort. Instead of talking about the great achievements we’ve had … they’re wasting their time with a guy who obviously had some very serious problems, who died three, four years ago. I’d rather talk about the success we have with the economy.”

In a Wednesday morning Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he no longer wanted the support of Republicans concerned about the Epstein case.

“Their [Democrats] new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls–t,’ hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years. I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” Trump wrote. “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”

Dershowitz told to The Telegraph that Trump had chosen to protect individuals named in the files.

“I know there are names. There are people’s names that are being suppressed, and I know that there are still documents,” Dershowitz said. “My position is I want everything revealed. I want everything out there.”

The post Dershowitz Shoots Down Epstein-Mossad Conspiracy Theories: ‘No Intel Agency Would Really Trust Him’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

A bicycle with the Palestinian and Irish flags is seen at the University College Dublin (UCD) ‘Palestinian Liberation Encampment’ on June 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

A growing chorus of US lawmakers is voicing sharp criticism of a proposed Irish bill that would ban trade with Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, warning that the measure could seriously damage US-Ireland relations and risk fueling antisemitism.

The so-called “Occupied Territories Bill,” which was recently approved by the Cabinet and has now moved to the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for pre-legislative scrutiny, would criminalize the importation or sale of products from Jewish communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — areas characterized by the legislation as “occupied Palestinian territory” — into Ireland.

The measure has sparked backlash in Washington, where several members of Congress say the bill unfairly targets Israel and undermines efforts to promote peace in the region.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the most strident supporters of Israel in Congress, accused Ireland of attempting to “economically isolate” the Jewish state and vowed that Dublin’s anti-Israel policies “would not go unnoticed” by Washington.

“I hope that Ireland will reconsider their efforts to economically isolate Israel, as they are in a fight for their very existence,” he posted on X. “I do not believe these efforts would be well received in the United States and they certainly would not go unnoticed.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) also condemned the proposed law, calling the legislation “foolish” and accused it of unfairly targeting Israel.

“This foolish move not only wrongfully targets Israel and the Jewish Community, but also harms American businesses,” Scott wrote. “They should think twice about the message they’re sending by passing this bill, which complicates our economic relationship and targets our ally.”

Legal experts have argued that if the Irish bill becomes law, it could chase American capital out of the country while also hurting companies that do business with Ireland. Under US law, it is illegal for American companies to participate in boycotts of Israel backed by foreign governments. Several US states have also gone beyond federal restrictions to pass separate measures that bar companies from receiving state contracts if they boycott Israel.

“Ireland’s proposal to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel is blatantly antisemitic — and it will hurt American companies too,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) posted on X, referring to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. “I strongly urge Ireland to reverse course and reconsider. There is no place for this kind of hate.”

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), chair of the House Republican Conference, added that any legislation “boycotting, divesting, or sanctioning Israel would be a huge mistake for Ireland,” arguing that “this type of extreme antisemitic hate is unacceptable and should be rejected.”

Several other American lawmakers expressed similar sentiments, describing the bill as discriminatory and suggesting the US could respond with punitive measures.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged Ireland to “sober up” and claimed that the nation was engaging in “diplomatic intoxication.”

“Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness & propose something so stupid that it would be attributed to act of diplomatic intoxication? It will harm Arabs as much as Israelis. Sober up Ireland!” Huckabee said in a post on X.

Ireland is the first European nation to advance legislation to ban and criminalize goods from Israeli settlements.

Observers believe that the legislation, if enacted, could strain the historically close ties between Dublin and Washington. A large number of American companies maintain Irish operations, many of which have ties to Israel. Critics have also argued that the law disproportionately targets the Jewish state while ignoring Palestinian conduct and broader complexities of the decades-long Middle Eastern conflict.

During a hearing of the Irish parliament’s joint committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade on Tuesday, Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish representative council of Ireland, warned that the bill “might drive Jewish communities here in Ireland further into fear and isolation.”

Alan Shatter, a former member of parliament who served in the Irish cabinet between 2011 and 2014 as minister for justice, equality and defense, also told the committee that the bill was “based on falsehoods” and “abandons all lessons learned in our own peace process.” He went on to compare the bill to Jews being targeted during World War II, saying it is “the first initiative of any European government to enact legislation to intentionally boycott and discriminate against Jews since the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.” Shatter told The Algemeiner in an interview last year that Ireland has “evolved into the most hostile state towards Israel in the entire EU,” explaining that antisemitism in the European country has become “blatant and obvious.”

Ireland has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel on the international stage since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza, leading the Jewish state to shutter its embassy in Dublin.

The American Jewish Committee, Anti‑Defamation League, B’nai B’rith International, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued a joint statement asserting that the Irish legislation “could create significant risks for US companies doing business in Israel and would fuel rising antisemitic and anti‑Zionist sentiment in Ireland and elsewhere.”

The statement continued, “We fully support the Jewish community in Ireland in combating this antisemitism which is manifesting itself in demonization of Israel.”

Irish supporters of the bill argue it is a principled stand against what they see as illegal occupation and settlement expansion.

“Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza,” Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris said during a press conference last month.

“The situation in Palestine remains a matter of deep public concern,” he added. “I have made it consistently clear that this government will use all levers at its disposal to address the horrifying situation on the ground and to contribute to long-term efforts to achieve a sustainable peace on the basis of the two-state solution.”

The Irish diplomat also told reporters at the time that he hopes the “real benefit” of the legislation will be to encourage other countries to follow suit, “because it is important that every country uses every lever at its disposal.”

However, the bill’s advancement has reportedly triggered unease in European diplomatic circles, with some viewing it as a potential breach of EU trade law.

Israeli officials have condemned the legislation as discriminatory, and the Israeli Embassy in Ireland warned it could encourage a new wave of boycotts against Jews.

The post ‘Antisemitic Hate’: US Lawmakers Condemn Proposed Irish Ban on Trade With Israeli Settlements first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

Columbia University will enact a series of reforms to address campus antisemitism, interim president Claire Shipman announced on Tuesday as the institution nears a deal to pay $200 million to settle allegations that it exposed Jewish students and faculty to discrimination.

In a statement, Shipman said the university will hire new coordinators to oversee complaints alleging civil rights violations; facilitate “deeper education on antisemitism” by creating new training programs for students, faculty, and staff; and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism — a tool that advocates say is necessary for identifying what constitutes antisemitic conduct and speech.

Shipman also announced new partnerships with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other Jewish groups while delivering a major blow to the anti-Zionist movement on campus by vowing never to “recognize or meet with” the self-titled “Columbia University Apartheid Divest” (CUAD), a notorious pro-Hamas campus group which has serially disrupted academic life with unauthorized, surprise demonstrations attended by non-students.

“I would also add that making these announcements in no way suggests we are finished with the work,” Shipman continued. “In a recent discussion, a faculty member and I agreed that antisemitism at this institution has existed, perhaps less overtly, for a long while, and the work of dismantling it, especially through education and understanding will take time. It will likely require more reform. But I’m hopeful that in doing this work, as we consider and even debate it, we will start to promote healing and to chart our path forward.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Columbia University’s campus has yielded some of the most indelible examples of anti-Jewish hatred in higher education since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel set off explosions of anti-Zionist activity at colleges and universities across the US. Such incidents included a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.

Amid these incidents, the university struggled to contain CUAD, which in late January committed infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, ADP reportedly distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia were shared with students.

In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, CUAD distributed literature calling on students to join Hamas’s movement to destroy Israel.

“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” one of the pamphlets given to freshmen students said. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”

Other portions of the text expressed explicitly Islamist aspirations for global jihad, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose is to mobilize an army of Muslims worldwide.

Citing these issues, the Trump administration in March canceled $400 million in federal research grants and contracts previously appropriated to Columbia. Since then, the university has reportedly agreed to restructure itself to comply with conditions for restoring the money — a process which may see it review undergraduate admissions practices that allegedly discriminate against qualified Jewish applicants, enforce an “anti-mask” policy that protesters have violated to avoid being identified by law enforcement, and enhance the university’s security protocols to allow for a quick restoration of order if and when the campus is upended by unauthorized demonstrations.

In Tuesday’s statement, Shipman, Columbia’s fourth chief administrator since 2023, said that the institution is turning the page.

“I want to reiterate that the university has zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment based on protected traits, including Jewish and Israeli identity,” she said. “And while our university rules and policies are well-defined on this matter, beginning this 2025-2026 academic year, Columbia will make clear our ‘Zero Tolerance for Antisemitism and Hate’ in regular community messages.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Columbia University Pledges New Campus Antisemitism Reforms first appeared on Algemeiner.com.