Legendary lawyer and Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz says US should leave the United Nations

Harvard Law School's Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Monday that he wants the United Nations removed from the United States. 

"I would like to see the United Nations thrown out of the United States, and the United States get out of the United Nations," Dershowitz said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast.

Although the U.N. has been under scrutiny for years, the body has come under heightened criticism from members of Congress and faced allegations of antisemitism for how they have treated Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas. 

Criticism of U.N. through the years

As far back as the mid 1940s, the U.N. and U.S. membership in it has been challenged. Sen. William Langer, R-N.D., was one of two senators to vote against the U.N. Charter. More recently, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., introduced H.R. 1205, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2015, that would have required withdrawal from the organization. 

This year, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced the DEFUND Act of 2025, which mandated termination of U.S. involvement with the U.N. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., in January 2025 also criticized the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for “not meeting the mission of the UN’s founding principles.”

“There were individuals in UNRWA who participated, who executed and committed terrorist acts against Israel on Oct. 7. [Yahyah] Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, carried an UNRWA passport. You had a Hamas data center under UNRWA headquarters, so the rot is deep,” she said.

Dershowitz: "U.N. promoting hatred and bigotry"

Dershowitz said he used to be a fan of the U.N. when he worked for United States Ambassador to the United Nations Arthur Goldberg. "I was a member of the United Nations Association," Dershowitz said. "But now it's become disturbing. It's become the Nazi propaganda military."

He alleged that the U.N. was promoting "bigotry" and "hatred."

"If I were to vote today, I would vote to kick the U.N. out of New York and to get the United States out of the United Nations," Dershowitz said. "I do not think the United Nations serves any legitimate purpose."

On Monday, it was reported that Palestinians shot people at a Jerusalem bus stop, resulting in six people being killed and 12 others injured. Police said that an Israeli soldier and civilian who were at the scene shot and killed the attackers.

He found that people regarded as decent turned out to be "intolerant and indecent"

Regarding Israel, Dershowitz, who taught at Harvard Law School for more than 50 years, also said that for the first time in 11 years, he was invited back to Harvard to talk about Israel, where he will give his stance on the Israel-Hamas war. 

"For the first time in the 11 years [since] I've been retired from Harvard, I was actually invited back next week to speak about Israel," he said. "First time in 11 years. And I suspect there will be protests and disruptions. People just don't want to hear the other side of issues."

He said that the U.S. had to do its duty to fight back against antisemitism during this time. 

"We believe in tolerance," he said. "We who are against bigotry—we have to fight back more aggressively, and we haven't been doing a good job. Because I think we were caught off guard by how many people who we regarded as decent people turned out to be intolerant and indecent."