Trump lawyer defends himself from pedophilia accusations with bizarre argument about Hamas

Alan Dershowitz, a renowned 85-year-old lawyer and LGBTQ+ ally, has denied pedophilia accusations contained in newly unsealed documents related to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. While defending himself, Dershowitz also blamed feminists for not speaking more forcefully against sexual violence committed by Hamas amid its recent attacks on Israel. He recently blamed LGBTQ+ groups for not doing the same thing.

Dershowitz – who was on the legal team that helped secure a 2006 non-prosecution plea deal for Epstein amid charges of unlawful sex with minors, the 2018 team that defended Harvey Weinstein from sexual abuse allegations, and the 2020 team that defended Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial – was named in the recently unsealed Epstein documents 137 times. One unnamed woman in the documents alleged that Dershowitz forced a minor girl to have sex with him several times “on private planes, in New York, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” The Independent reported. Two other unnamed women also claimed Dershowitz witnessed other girls being abused.

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Dershowitz denied the accusations — and addressed his name appearing on flight logs for Epstein’s private jet (nicknamed the “Lolita Express” after Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 pedophilia novel) — in a 31-minute YouTube livestream that he broadcasted on Wednesday evening.

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“Of course I’m on that [flight] list. I was his lawyer. I flew on his plane… I had an innocent relationship with [Epstein] who I didn’t know — nobody suspected — had done anything wrong,” Dershowitz said during his livestream.

Referencing the 2006 non-plea agreement he helped secure for Epstein, Dershowitz said Epstein “hated” the deal. “In fact, he wouldn’t pay me my fee because he thought I had done a terrible, terrible job in getting him a plea bargain that required him to serve some time in jail and also to register as a sex offender.”

As his livestream continued, he compared the “list” of Epstein associates with a hypothetical list of feminist activists whom he accused of not condemning the sexual violence allegedly used by Hamas in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israelis, Rolling Stone reported.

“I want to list produce of radical feminists, people from the #MeToo movement, people who accuse others, people who believe that you should believe any woman,” Dershowitz said. “Where is #MeToo? #MeToo, but not if you’re a Jew? Is that what #MeToo is about?” he asked. The tirade continued: “Where are radical feminists? Where are those who think that the worst thing in the world is to be on an Epstein list, but it’s okay to rape and mutilate and behead and kidnap and murder innocent Israelis?”

Dershowitz similarly condemned LGBTQ+ groups for not speaking out more forcefully against Hamas’s use of sexual violence in his interview two weeks ago with Forbes. While he has said that governments shouldn’t be able to “override” issues of basic liberty such as “gay rights, equality for Arabs, [and] voting issues,” he has also criticized LGBTQ+ allied students who demonstrate for Palestinian rights. He said queer-allied students would be murdered in the country and are antisemitic Nazis because they overlook Palestine’s anti-LGBTQ+ politics while aligning themselves with the country’s opposition to Israel.

“[The rape of Israeli women] should get attention from women’s groups and from all groups. It should get attention from gay groups and from transgender groups. Where are they?” Dershowitz asked Forbes. “Do they hate themselves? Even more? Do they hate Jews even more than they hate themselves? Why are they supporting an organization that beheads women, that allows honor killings, that degrades women, that murders gay people? Shame on all of them.”

In the past, Dershowitz has spoken against criticisms that Israel uses its status as a Middle Eastern LGBTQ+ haven to “pinkwash” its human rights abuses against neighboring Palestinians. Critics of Israel point out that its queer-inclusion doesn’t often extend to queer Palestinians. Late last month, 330 LGBTQ+ artists in the U.S. signed a public letter pledging not to perform in Israel until a Gaza ceasefire occurs.

“We were devastated to witness the loss of innocent Israeli lives on October 7th,” the artists’ public letter begins. “And we have been devastated, and called to action, watching Israel carry out its assault on innocent civilians in Gaza every single day since.”