It is possible that I overlooked some of his other works. After all, the Reader's Guide doesn't index Penthouse, and the Harvard library system is notoriously weak on smut.

When the piece ran, the intifada was two months old and the death toll was 54. Dershowitz argued that--shootings and tear-gassings aside--the Israeli judiciary had "reacted magnificently." That's nice. If you're shot and killed, you can always sue.

And if that option doesn't satisfy Arabs who oppose Israeli oppression, Dershowitz graciously suggests that they are "entirely free to leave."

Israel, love it or leave it.

On the topic of letters to the editor, I cannot resist quoting from Jean Paul Sartre's response to a letter to the editor written by Albert Camus in 1952.

"Unfortunately, you have deliberately put me on trial, and in such an ugly tone of voice, that I can no longer remain silent without losing face....

"Your combination of dreary conceit and vulnerability...[has caused you to] become the victim of your own self-importance, which hides your inner problems....

"For what mysterious reasons may your works not be discussed without taking away humanity's reasons for living? By what miracle are objections to you suddenly transformed, within the hour, into sacrilege?"