Thank G-d it's only Dershowitz we're up against

I just started started working at Tikkun magazine today. Woo!
I had a nice day talking to Rabbi Lerner and meeting the staff. My job for the day was to read his book, Healing Israel/Palestine, all day. It was awesome. It would be even awesomer if I was getting paid to read, but hey, I'm happy where I am.
To be honest, I'm kinda star-struck around Rabbi Lerner. Just look at the size of his wikipedia article!
Anyways, Jen sent me an interesting debate between him and Alan Dershowitz about whether or not people who are critical of Israel are labeled as antisemitic. Dershowitz is a veteran debater and an asshole. He doesn't let Rabbi Lerner speak! And he says, "Find me one leader who labels criticizers of Israel as antisemitic and I will give them a reward." Ok, I agree with you that it would be hard to find a Jewish leader who is so outspoken about being an asshole (although I'm sure we could pin Abe Foxman for something) but its not the leaders who inhibit the possibility of a safe-space for critique, its the communities, the synagogues, the schools, etc. It is not one entity, it is a culture of repression.

But after I watched this debate, I happened upon another debate involving Alan Dershowitz that led me to see him in somewhat of a different light. It is a debate the happened in 1985 between Dershowitz and Rabbi Meir Kahana at Boston University.

It's suprising to see Dershowitz as the lefty. This is definitely a rare sight. It's possible that Dershowitz's views have changed in the past 23 years and that is why he seems like such a good guy, but its also possible that anyone would seem liberal standing next to such a scary figure. Dershowitz himself compares him (to his face) to Louis Farrakhan for the African-Americans or Yasser Arafat for the Palestinians. If I didn't know his stance on terrorism and his staunch support for AIPAC, I would think that Dershowitz is a hero. Certainly in this debate he was.
I feel privileged to have Dershowitz on the Jewish far right, and not a maniac like Kahane. Although I disagree with his views, Dershowitz doesn't scare me. I get angry when I even see pictures of Kahana let alone hear him speak about forced transfer of Palestinians.
Unfortunately, there are still guys who talk like him, but luckily they don't have the charisma or the public support to pose as much of a threat as Kahana did.