Dershowitz and Plagiarism, Again

Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, as we noted previously, played a major role in the politically motivated tenure denial of Norman Finkelstein, the former DePaul political science professor who has been a staunch critic of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians.  Dershowitz seems to have been at least partially motivated by Professor Finkelstein's charge that Dershowitz plagiarized portions of a book he wrote in defense of Israel.  Lawyer/philosopher Frank Menetrez (who previously wrote a devastating analysis of Dershowitz's critique of Finkelstein) has now re-examined the plagiarism charge, and documented quite persuasively an instance of plagiarism.  Professor Dershowitz purports to reply to Menetrez here, but it is wholly non-responsive, as Dr. Menetrez himself points out in rejoinder at the same link.  Of course, the plagiarism at issue in Dershowitz's case does not appear to be nearly as significant as that involving other Harvard Law School faculty in recent years.  Whereas other HLS faculty have acknowledged wrongdoing, however, Professor Dershowitz has steadfastly denied it.  That denial is no longer credible.