![Ellison photo by By Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Dershowitz photo By The Huntington (Flickr: Alan Dershowitz) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://alphanews.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Untitled-design-11.png "untitled-design-11")
Prominent lawyer and Democratic Party member Alan Dershowitz stated his intent to leave the Democratic Party if Representative Keith Ellison is elected DNC chair, reports Fox Business.
Dershowitz has been critical of the potential appointment of Ellison for some time, including a full column for The Hill criticizing the Minnesota congressman. In light of the Obama administration’s refusal to stand with Israel in the United Nations, Dershowitz took his statements a step further.
“I’m going to tell you right here on this show and this is news, if they appoint Keith Ellison to be chairman of the Democratic Party, I will resign my membership to the Democratic Party after 50 years of being a loyal Democrat,” Dershowitz said on Fox Business.
Dershowitz said he was likely to vote his conscience, which would likely still include some Democrats. However he warned that the Democrats would see “a lot of people leave” if Ellison is elected chair.
In his article for The Hill on December 7, Dershowitz ripped into Ellison. He severely criticized Ellison’s past statements in defense of anti-semitic statements by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and civil-rights activist Stokely Carmichael, who popularized the phrase, “Black Power”.
President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have also come under fire regarding U.S.-Israeli relations this week. The United States refused to veto a United Nations vote condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Kerry’s speech on Wednesday attempting to explain the abstention on the vote drew more criticism, as the Obama administration was condemned for being much harsher on Israel than on Palestine, reports the Washington Examiner.
“I will still vote my conscience and mostly I’ll vote for Democrats,” Dershowitz said on Fox Business, “But I will not be a member of a party that represents itself through a chairman like Keith Ellison and through policies like that espoused by John Kerry and Barack Obama.”
