Famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz said Friday he would rather leave the Democratic Party than be a member under Rep. Keith Ellison, the front-runner to lead the Democratic National Committee.
Speaking on Fox Business, Dershowitz said there is a divide in the Democratic Party over Jewish issues, particularly the support of Israel, or lack thereof, offered by the Obama administration.
Dershowitz said Ellison’s past praise of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is enough to make him and other Jews leave the party.
“It does, and if they now appoint Keith Ellison, who worked with Farrakhan, to be chairman of the DNC you’re going to see a lot of people leave” Dershowitz said. “I’m going to tell you right here on this show and this is news, if they appoint Keith Ellison to be chairman of the Democratic Party, I will resign my membership to the Democratic Party after 50 years of being a loyal Democrat.”
Dershowitz went on to say that he would likely still vote for Democrats but wouldn’t want to be a part of a party “that represents itself through a chairman like Keith Ellison and through policies like that espoused by John Kerry and Barack Obama.”
Obama and Kerry have been under fire this week for the decision last week to abstain from a United Nations vote condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Kerry then gave a long speech on Wednesday explaining that abstention, causing many Republicans and Israel supporters to condemn the Obama administration for being harder on Israel than Palestine.
