Harvard professors clash over students blaming Israel for conflict: 'Get off the crack pipe'
Alan Dershowitz and Cornel West spark heated debate whether Israel, US have ‘supported and enabled’ war crimes
Harvard Law Prof. emeritus Alan Dershowitz and Prof. Cornel West join 'Hannity' to sound off on major disagreements.
Two Harvard professors did not spare words Wednesday night in a passionate debate over whether the esteemed university's students are right or wrong in blaming Israel for the latest conflict with Palestinians.
"I believe a Palestinian baby has the same value as an Israeli baby. So when you have that kind of vicious hatred and revenge, you get response of hatred and revenge. They are all wrong. They're all war crimes," independent presidential candidate and former Harvard theologian Cornel West said on "Hannity."
"They're all to be condemned, but you cannot simply look at this particular moment without the larger backdrop of an ugly occupation and the ugly attacks chronically against Palestinians," West continued.
In response, Harvard Law’s Alan Dershowitz argued Palestinians "have formed human shields" using the elderly and children.
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"Hamas is the ones responsible for the killing of Palestinian children," Dershowitz countered. "The Hamas has a term, it's called ‘the CNN strategy.’ And the CNN strategy is: Induce Israel into killing Palestinian children by using them as human shields, then parade the bodies out on CNN and you'll see what happens. People like Cornel West will engage in crocodile tears, blame it on Israel, when the entire blame is on the Palestinians, Hamas for using their children as human shields."
Harvard professors Alan Dershowitz, right, and Cornel West had an animated debate on "Hannity" on Wednesday over a students’ letter of support for Palestinians. (Fox News)
The Israel-Hamas war entered its sixth day Thursday, with thousands of Israeli and Palestinian casualties combined, and reportedly 25 U.S. citizens killed in the conflict.
Amid the warfare, more than two dozen Harvard University student organizations signed a letter that declared Israel as "entirely responsible" for the violence taking place. Following backlash, some student groups quickly worked to rescind their signatures on the letter.
West clarified that he has equal outrage when Palestinian and Israeli babies and children are killed, and asked Dershowitz to "have the same indignation."
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"You can't make a moral comparison — when Nazi kids were killed in the bombings of Dresden, I didn't have the same comparison when Jewish kids were put in gas chambers in crematoriums," Dershowitz replied. "You're a professor of theology. Don't you understand the moral difference between deliberately murdering a kid and having collateral damage because there are human shields?"
After Dershowitz then accused West of "defending Hamas," West erupted and said: "Don’t you ever lie on me like that, brother. I’m defending the suffering of Palestine… Anybody who commits war crimes are barbaric. I'm saying that explicitly. But I want you to say, if the Israeli Defense Forces are killing children, are they barbaric, too?"
Dershowitz replied with "no," arguing Israel has "never" targeted children.
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"Oh brother, you’ve got to get off the crack pipe," West reacted.
"Part of our challenge, though, and this is important just as a leader, you see, he asked me what I would do [as president]. I would say, we've got to end occupation. We've got to make sure that Palestinians have the same dignity, the same rights as Israelis. That's at the center," West expanded.
FOX News host Sean Hannity then asked: "Would Gaza be facing annihilation if Hamas did not attack and kill all these innocent Israelis?"
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While Dershowitz answered with, "Of course not," West argued the Gaza Strip has been facing annihilation since Hamas’ takeover in 2006 and 2007.
Israel’s military is expected to launch a ground operation into Gaza soon, with Fox News Digital reporting Israeli planes have dropped fliers into Gaza with a message for them to leave their homes and head to shelter, or risk being harmed.
Fox News’ Joe Schoffstall and Greg Norman contributed to this report.