Dershowitz says he’s building ‘legal dream team’ to defend Israel in court and on international stage

Prominent US attorney Alan Dershowitz says he is building a “legal dream team” to defend Israel in court as well as on the world stage.

Noting the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, Dershowitz writes in the Wall Street Journal that “this case will be tried in a courtroom in The Hague. It will also be tried in the court of public opinion, both in the US and throughout the world.”

Dershowitz says that those who have signed up for the project include former US attorneys general Michael Mukasey and William Barr, former Solicitor General Seth Waxman, former FBI Director Louis Freeh and former Canadian attorney general and justice minister Irwin Cotler.

It is unclear what role, if any, the team will take in the ICC legal proceedings.

Dershowitz says the team will not only argue that the ICC has no jurisdiction in the matter, but will also demonstrate that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are not in violation of international law.

In a massive legal bombshell last week, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over the war in Gaza, an unprecedented step that put the two at risk of being detained in much of the world. The decision marked the first time the ICC has ever issued arrest warrants against leaders of a democratic country.

The court also issued a warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was killed by an IDF strike in Gaza in July. Khan had sought arrest warrants for Deif and slain Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar for the terror group’s October 7, 2023, massacre that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.