Both President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are being prosecuted for actions that have not been "explicitly made criminal," Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz argues in an opinion piece while pointing out the similarities and differences in their cases.
"The most striking similarity is that both are being investigated for actions that their legislatures have not explicitly made criminal," Dershowitz says in the article for Gatestone Institute. "Moreover, no legislature in any country governed by the rule of law would ever enact a general statute criminalizing such conduct."
But instead, the investigations of both are being based on "general laws" that were never used to apply to the conduct deemed at issue, but instead stretched to target them, said Dershowitz. Netanyahu, he explained, has been indicted on charges of bribery for allegedly agreeing to help a media company in exchange for more positive coverage, which does not constitute the crime with which he's being charged, said Dershowitz.
Further, the Knesset, Israel's legislature, would not make it a crime to cast a vote in exchange for good media coverage, he said.
"Politicians always seek good coverage and many vote with that in mind," said Dershowitz. Trump is also being investigated for alleged bribery after Democrats initially had thought they could impeach him for non-criminal conduct, said Dershowitz.
The problem with that, like with the approach against Netanyahu, is that it is "simply not a crime for a president to use his power over foreign policy for political, partisan or even personal advantage," said Dershowitz. "Presidents have even engaged in military actions for political gain. They have given aid to foreign countries to help themselves get elected."
The difference in the cases is that Israel's parliamentary democracy allows a prime minister to be removed by a vote of no confidence, but as a republic, the United States has separation of powers and checks and balances, and the founding fathers saw the power of impeachment as central to protecting the republic, said Dershowitz.
"Although the differences between Israel and the United States are significant, they share in common the rule of law," he concluded. "Under the rule of law, properly applied, neither Netanyahu nor Trump should be deemed guilty of bribery."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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