SHAH ALAM - In anticipation of the release of court documents expected to disclose additional individuals allegedly connected to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Alan Dershowitz, the attorney responsible for negotiating the 2008 "sweetheart” non-prosecution deal during Epstein’s initial sex crimes accusation, addressed the issue on his YouTube and Rumble channels yesterday.
The livestream, titled "The Epstein List and Guilt by Association,” took an unexpected turn as Dershowitz delved into a discussion about Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hoped to tap Dershowitz to defend Israel against genocide accusations in the International Court of Justice next week, Axios reporter Barak Ravid wrote in a post on X, citing anonymous Israeli officials.
Dershowitz told The Crimson on Thursday that he "can’t comment on any role that I may or may not play” in defending Israel in The Hague.
However, he said that he has been "defending Israel for more than half a century,” adding that he "will continue to defend Israel when it is right.”
In regards to Epstein’s case, Dershowitz, who had a well-established relationship with the former emphasised in the livestream that he knew Epstein personally before taking on his representation.
"I'm on the list, of course. I represented him in law. I frequently traveled on his aircraft with other solicitors for different procedures and court appearances in Florida," Dershowitz said.
However, he added that he had visited Epstein's private island in the Caribbean shortly after Epstein had bought it with his wife and daughter, but he saw nothing that would have led him to believe that his acquaintance was involved in illegal behavior.
Dershowitz clarified that their relationship became closer when Epstein needed legal assistance to address accusations of soliciting prostitutes, even from a minor.
Epstein reached a plea agreement with Dershowitz's legal representation that spared him from federal prosecution and granted him daytime work release while serving a brief jail sentence. However, Dershowitz claimed Epstein "hated" the advantageous arrangement.
The lawyer stated on his livestream that the client refused to pay him his fee because he believed Dershowitz had done a bad job securing a plea deal that would have required him to serve time in jail and register as a sex offender.
Dershowitz also reiterated his desire for the public to have access to all court records connected to Epstein.
The records set to be made public originate from a settled 2015 defamation lawsuit filed by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre against convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
He then made an attempt to compare the fictitious "list" of Epstein associates to a list of female activists he chastised for not denouncing the terrorist organization Hamas, responsible for the attack on Israel on October 7.
"I would like to enumerate the names of radical feminists, members of the #MeToo movement, accusers of others, and proponents of believing that you should believe any woman," Dershowitz declared.
"Where is the #MeToo movement?" Dershowitz went on. Perhaps #MeToo does not apply to Jews? "Is that the purpose of #MeToo?" he questioned.
The outburst continued: "Where are the radical feminists? Where are the people who believe that being on the Epstein list is the worst thing ever, but raping, disfiguring, beheading, kidnapping, and killing defenceless Israelis is acceptable?
"People can make false accusations with impunity without fear of being sued," continued Dershowitz in a bitter statement.
Earlier in the air, he mentioned Giuffre's accusation against him for allegedly sexually abusing her when she was being trafficked by Epstein.
After accusing her of extortion and perjury last year, she abandoned a defamation lawsuit against him after acknowledging she might have been mistaken to name him as one of her abusers.
Dershowitz also used his livestream to criticise the #MeToo movement at that time.
"I've got a rule. You have no credibility as a radical feminist if you haven't expressed your opposition to rapes, killings, beheadings, and sexual assaults in any form. You should never trust a word you say,” he said.
Overall, Dershowitz, aside from his desire to talk about other topics, didn't need to have bothered with these tense and perplexing similarities to the Epstein case or his involvement in it.
As he himself noted, a person is not automatically guilty of a crime just because their name appears in court records linked to a notorious offender.