Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘Hurt A Jew, We Sue You’: Dershowitz Suggests Suing If Liberal DAs Don’t Prosecute Possible Civil Rights Violations

Alan Dershowitz

Noted attorney Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that Jewish students harassed by anti-Israel protesters should consider filing lawsuits if left-wing prosecutors refuse to file charges.

Dershowitz’s comments came after Columbia University suggested that professors either cancel final exams or consider administering them online following the police removal of protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall on the Ivy League school’s campus. On his podcast, “The Dershow,” Dershowitz expressed doubt that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would act against the protesters, and that Jewish students should consider filing lawsuits if charges are not brought.

“You have no right to trespass, you have no right to cause damage in the building, you certainly have no right to keep two janitors hostages for several hours before you let them out,” Dershowtiz said. “O.J. Simpson went to jail for that exact crime… There was no gun involved here, but doesn’t matter under the law generally, if you by force, keep somebody from leaving, that’s another serious crime. So we’ll see if there’s any prosecution… it’s up to the district attorney, Bragg. He just seems to be very clear that he goes after people he doesn’t like and doesn’t go after people he likes.”

Dershowitz said, however, that Bragg’s inaction would not be the end of the matter, saying the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allows for civil action.

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“Under the Civil Rights Act it is a federal crime, you can bring in federal court… it is also a federal tort,” Dershowitz said, saying that there was a “nationwide conspiracy” to organize the anti-Israel protests.

“If we find the plaintiff and defendant, we will file a lawsuit,” Dershowitz continued. “And if that lawsuit survives a motion to dismiss, which it will, then we get discovery, we find out who paid for the tent[s], we find out what’s on the emails, we find out a great many things that we now don’t really know, and so a civil lawsuit has the virtue of discovery, whereas in a criminal case, it’s up to the prosecution, if they don’t want to bring it, it disappears, if they do want to bring it, they can issue subpoenas or not as they choose, we have no control over that, whereas, if you bring a civil lawsuit, we do have control over that, and so I think of the lawsuit as the remedy and I’ve mentioned I’ve already gotten about 25 volunteers.”

The protest started when demonstrators lit flares and chanted anti-Israel slogans hours after Columbia University President Dr. Nemat Shafik was grilled by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York during an April 17 House Education Committee hearing titled “Columbia In Crisis: Columbia University’s Response To Antisemitism,” Fox News reported.

The anti-Israel protesters have opposed Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by the radical Islamic terrorist group Hamas that killed over 1,200 people. Since the attack, protesters at multiple demonstrations at Ivy League schools have made statements like “resistance is justified,” including an Oct. 15 protest where attendees chanted a slogan that has connotations of wiping out Israel after a Cornell University professor called the attacks “exhilarating.”

At the University of California Los Angeles, anti-Israel protesters appeared to block a Jewish student from crossing a plaza to attend a class in a video posted on X Monday.

Dershowitz said he is referring to his legal effort as “Hurt a Jew, We Sue You.”