Obama Adds Sheldon Adelson To Enemies List

Alan Dershowitz isn't happy about it.

Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law School professor, liberal Democrat, and pro-Israel icon, has warned fellow Democrats to stop attacking Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who has emerged as the top Republican donor in the 2012 election cycle. President Barack Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, signaled last week that the Obama campaign was adding Adelson to the list of private citizens it has targeted for attack, alongside the Koch brothers and Karl Rove. In tandem, the National Jewish Democratic Council began a petition drive aimed at pressuring Mitt Romney and the Republican Party to return and refuse "dirty money" from Adelson.

The claim of "dirty money" comes from an accusation, cited in the left-wing Huffington Post and made in a lawsuit by a former Adelson employee who was fired, that Adelson personally approved of "personally approved of prostitution and knew of other improper activity at his company's properties in the Chinese enclave" of Macau.

Dershowitz has criticized National Jewish Democratic Council president David Harris for basing his attacks on this claim "even though no evidence has been submitted to support it and no finding has been made by any court. Has [Harris] never heard of 'due process' or the 'presumption of innocence'?" Citing Adelson's work on behalf of pro-Israel causes, as well as his philanthropy in the United States, Dershowitz slammed Harris and his Democratic organization for maligning a man whose "generosity has helped repair the world."

Alan Dershowitz is going to find himself on the enemies list soon if he doesn't watch himself.