Alan Dershowitz denounced the terrorist organization Hamas on Wednesday and accused the media of unwittingly “incentivizing” what he said was the group’s “dead baby strategy.”
“It’s called the dead baby strategy. You use children and women. You deliberately put them on the front lines. You make it impossible for Israel to defend itself without occasionally killing a woman or child or elderly person,” Dershowitz told ‘Fox & Friends.’
“They want the media to show the body count. They want the media to show the dead baby,” added the frequent Fox News contributor and law professor. “Israel did exactly what America is doing and the world ought to condemn A). Hamas and also the media that incentivizes and encourages Hamas to do this by reporting in such a biased manner.”
Earlier this week, celebrations over the formal relocation of the United States embassy to Jerusalem were marred by protests from Hamas. The group, classified internationally as a terrorist organization, has long been known for employing suicide bombings in Israel.
The protests led to dozens of deaths as Palestinians attempted to break through an Israeli border fence. The moment made for a number of jarring split screen images on news networks with smiling dignitaries making speeches in one frame, while scenes of violence unfolded in another.
Dershowitz’s position was keeping with the official line from the United States, which was articulated by United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday.
“Make no mistake. Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday. I ask my colleagues here in the Security Council who among us would accept this type of activity on your border? No one would. No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has. In fact, the records of several countries here today suggest they would be much less restrained,” she told the international body on Tuesday.
“Those who suggest that the Gaza violence has anything to do with the location of the American embassy are sorely mistaken. Rather the violence comes from those who reject the existence of the state of Israel in any location.”