Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz Declares War on Media Matters, Accuses Group of Tolerating Anti-Semitism

Outspoken Harvard University professor Alan Dershowitz asserted that Media Matters has "crossed the line into anti-Semitism" by tolerating an employee -- M.J. Rosenberg -- who consistently downplays the Iranian nuclear threat and repeatedly engages the term "Israel firster" -- an epithet that implies a person's loyalties are to Israel, rather than America first.

The staunch Zionist and liberal Democrat first started speaking out against the liberal media watchdog group last month.

"When you accuse Jews of dual loyalty, you invoke a canard that goes back hundreds of years and falls into the category of anti-Semitism," Dershowitz said in an interview on Fox News. "To the extent that Media Matters hired him to do that and is tolerating him, they have crossed the line into anti-Semitism."

Dershowitz called on Media Matters to fire Rosenberg, but also called on the White House to disassociate itself from Media Matters -- warning that their cozy relationship would cause problems in the 2012 reelection campaign.

"The president should do to Media Matters what he did to Jeremiah Wright -- totally disassociate, rebuke and say 'I stand with Israel,'" he said.

Fox provides background on the Media Matters staffer:

Rosenberg, a senior foreign policy fellow, often writes about the heated rhetoric in Washington regarding the possibility of a conflict with Iran over its nuclear program. He is a sharp critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has been warning the U.S. against joining his administration in any military campaign against Iran.

Rosenberg is hardly alone in those opinions, but his critics complain he also resorts to name-calling in the course of making his arguments.

In a column last month, Rosenberg argued that the "Israel firster" term is "accurate," if not polite, in covering the issue of a possible war with Iran.

"There is no need here to describe who the Israel Firsters are. They are those people (of whatever ethnic background) who invariably support Israel's policies over those of the United States," he wrote.

The passionate Dershowitz maintained, however, that Israel's and America's interests are aligned, and said Rosenberg was essentially accusing people like Dershowitz of "treason."

"It's the oldest of charges ... accusing Jews of dual loyalty, and it can't be tolerated, whether it comes from the left or the right," he said. "The tent is not big enough to include people who have engaged in bigotry against the Jewish people."