Dershowitz on Secure Freedom Radio: “sad day in American history… the worst foreign policy deal we’ve made”

Frank Gaffney interviewed renowned Harvard law professor and author Alan Dershowitz on Secure Freedom Radio about the  nuclear deal with Iran.

Dershowitz , who is politically liberal but a staunch defender of Israel, was harshly critical of the deal and the way it’s being made:

This is a sad day in American history. We’re about to make probably the worst foreign policy deal we’ve made, certainly the worst since the ill-fated North Korea deal which resulted in North Korea obtaining nuclear weapons.

They [Iran] have outmaneuvered us at every point in time and made us look like absolute fools to much of the world.”

Gaffney asked Dershowitz what impact this would have on other nations and his answer was less than encouraging, to say the least:

I think it increases the chances of war, not decreases them. And makes it inevitable that Iran will cheat. Israelis will catch them cheating and America will say no, they’re not quite cheating, they’re just stretching the limits a little bit. There will be conflict between Israel and the United States and Israel as a sovereign democracy surrounded by enemies will have to do what Netanyahu said yesterday they will have to do and what the minister of defense said they would have to do and that is defend themselves.

He also pointed out, as other critics have, that this could lead to an arms race in the Middle East:

I think it increases the chance of many Arab Sunni countries in the area developing or buying their own nuclear facilities from North Korea or elsewhere, or Pakistan.

It also will give Iran the financial capacity to continue to export the kind of terrorism that resulted in the death of so many Americans in Lebanon, so many people in Argentina. The world is a much more dangerous place this week than it was last week.

Gaffney points out that “reluctant proponents” of the Iran deal say that not doing anything will lead to war. Dershowitz disagrees with that estimation and suggests that the world would be better off with no deal than this deal and suggests continued sanctions and embargoes would have been a better alternative.

When asked if the nuclear deal will legitimize the idea of a nuclear Iran and make it harder for Israel to protect itself, Dershowitz responded “there’s no doubt about that.” He then went on to suggest that among Israelis, this issue unites the right and left in the common cause of their nation’s defense stating that “Israel will never accept a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran.”

The conversation then shifts to the impact of the nuclear deal on America and the security risks that come with it.

When Gaffney asks Dershowitz how Democrats in congress should proceed, he says “They have to be Americans first and Democrats second. They have to put the interests of this country before the interests of a particular administration.”

Dershowitz suggests that the first question which must be answered is whether or not this is a treaty and then points out that while the U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds approval from the senate, the Obama administration is twisting the deal to not be a treaty and will require only one third of the senate to agree. If it’s not a treaty, he continues, it should at least require a majority vote but he states that there’s a “very plausible case to be made that this is a treaty.”

Dershowitz concludes:

This should always remain a bipartisan issue. It should unite liberals and conservatives, it should unite Democrats and Republicans, it should unite Jews, Christians and Muslims. This is something that endangers everybody.

The complete interview can be found below: