Last night’s debate on the Iran war brought together Alan Dershowitz and libertarian Dave Smith for a wide-ranging clash over Iran, Israel, and … you guessed it: Antisemitism! 

Dershowitz defended the case for confronting Iran while calling Smith a racist, bigot, and an important part of the “2000 year history” of antisemitism. Smith made a few jabs back while arguing the Iran war is the worst decision in modern U.S. history. Dersh maintained that he is pro-regime change by “almost any means,” justifying this position by invoking Hitler.

We recommend the full debate, but here were two highlights:

“Israel is about to deliver us socialism”

Dershowitz noted that Israel itself is increasingly becoming an electoral issue and said Americans will ultimately be able to make up their minds on whether to continue supporting the country financially/militarily:

“We're having an election coming up. Israel is very much on the ballot in many places,” Dershowitz said.

Smith strongly agreed that Israel and its enormous backlash over their conduct in Gaza:

“I'm so glad you said that, because Israel is about to deliver us socialism… Israel's on the ballot and Israel is so hated right now that we're gonna turn to socialism instead.”

There is a strong basis for Smith’s prediction for anyone paying attention. The most anti-Israel wing of Democratic politics overlaps considerably with its socialist wing. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) officially supports BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions against Israel) and requires candidates seeking its national endorsement to satisfy a set of “Anti-Zionist requirements.” Much of this aligns with sentiments on the populist right - minus the socialism.

The result, according to Smith, will be more Mandami’s, more Al Sayed’s, and more Ilhan Omar’s.

Reagan got over Beirut pretty quickly...

Dershowitz brought up the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, which killed 241 American servicemen - and is frequently invoked by the hawks - as part of the case against Iran.

Smith pushed back on the premise because technically “Iran didn't kill our Marines in Lebanon” and that it was “a proto-Hezbollah type group” that the Iranians funded.

Still, conceding the premise, Smith went on to describe how President Ronald Reagan. just two years later, went on to covertly arm the Iranians in their war against Iraq. An operation assisted by the Israelis:

“At least be consistent. Two years after that attack on our Marines, Ronald Reagan, at the behest of the Israelis, sold weapons to the Iranians.”

These secret arm sales are now common knowledge and part of the larger Iran-Contra scandal, wherein also, according to former WH aide Barbara Honegger’s book October Surprise, then VP candidate George HW Bush flew to Iran ahead of the Reagan-Carter 1980 election. There Bush promised the Iranians money and weapons as long as the regime not release the American hostages until after election day (to tip the election in Reagan’s favor)… the hostages being another talking point of the hawks today painting the Iranians as fanatics.

Meanwhile, the Reagan administration had also tilted toward Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the same war, providing intelligence and other assistance despite Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, which per Scott Horton’s Enough Already, they greenlit in secret while essentially saying “go ahead but FYI were gonna have to condemn this stuff if public.”

Smith’s point: if Reagan and Israel could work with and even arm Tehran two years after Beirut, citing the bombing more than four decades later as a standing justification for war deserves some scrutiny.

“If two years after that, Ronald Reagan and the Israeli government could deal weapons to the Iranians, don't come back to me... now and start using that just as one of your pylons because you need another little piece of something that sounds like a justification.”

Watch the full debate below or listen on the ZeroHedge Spotify: