Newly uncovered emails reveal Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, directly aided Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz in launching a vicious smear campaign against scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt for daring to expose the Israel lobby’s stranglehold on U.S. foreign policy.

In a striking revelation, Jeffrey Epstein and Alan Dershowitz joined forces to undermine critics of Israel in the same period that Epstein was reportedly scheming to discredit one of his underage victims. This collaboration surfaced in March 2006, when Harvard’s Kennedy School published a controversial paper titled “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” by scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. The paper argued that pro-Israel organizations, such as AIPAC, were skewing U.S. foreign policy to favor Israel, suggesting that no other lobby had so effectively aligned American foreign policy with the interests of another nation.

When Piers Morgan Uncensored confronted Mearsheimer and Dershowitz about leaked emails involving Epstein, Mearsheimer acknowledged the damage to Walt’s career, while Dershowitz justified circulating his rebuttal through Epstein as a common academic practice. The backlash to Mearsheimer and Walt’s paper was swift and intense. The Anti-Defamation League labeled it as an “anti-Jewish screed.” In response, Harvard distanced itself by removing its logo from the paper and adding a disclaimer. The Atlantic, which had initially commissioned the piece, decided against publishing it and instead paid a $10,000 kill fee, a decision Mearsheimer later recounted as a quick payday.

The complexity of the situation deepened when Drop Site News obtained Epstein’s emails, verified by Bloomberg, through the whistleblower group Distributed Denial of Secrets. These emails revealed that in early April 2006, Epstein received drafts of Dershowitz’s critique titled “Debunking the Newest – and Oldest – Jewish Conspiracy,” which compared Mearsheimer and Walt to authors of the anti-Semitic text, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Epstein responded positively to the draft, and Dershowitz’s assistant inquired about its distribution. Epstein confirmed he had begun disseminating it, highlighting the extent of their collaboration.

The backlash was immediate and ferocious. The Anti-Defamation League branded it an “anti-Jewish screed.” Harvard scrubbed its logo from the paper and added a disclaimer. Even The Atlantic, which commissioned it years earlier, killed the piece and paid a “$10,000 kill fee,” as Mearsheimer later told Tucker Carlson: “That’s the fastest $10,000 we ever made.”​

Drop Site News obtained Epstein’s emails from whistleblower group Distributed Denial of Secrets, verified by Bloomberg as authentic. In early April 2006, Epstein got drafts of Dershowitz’s hit piece, “Debunking the Newest – and Oldest – Jewish Conspiracy,” comparing the scholars to authors of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Epstein replied, “terrific…congragulations (sic).” Dershowitz’s assistant followed up: “Jeffrey, were you going to distribute this for Alan??” Epstein confirmed: “yes I’ve started.”​

Epstein, no stranger to Harvard influence, had donated millions and managed Leslie Wexner’s fortune, which funneled $20 million to the Kennedy School for programs like the Wexner Israel Fellowship training Israeli officials. He positioned himself as a patron to stars like Dershowitz and then-Harvard president Larry Summers.​

The irony couldn’t be thicker: elite financiers using cash and connections to bury a paper warning about exactly that dynamic—pro-Israel money pulling U.S. policy off course, especially amid the Iraq disaster. Mearsheimer told Drop Site, “I’m not surprised to see these emails, because Dershowitz and Epstein were close and both have a passionate attachment to Israel.”​

Same Week: Smearing a Child Victim

While orchestrating the academic takedown, Epstein fed Dershowitz—his lawyer—dirt on a 16-year-old accuser from Palm Beach police files. On April 10, days after Dershowitz’s piece dropped, Epstein sent character assassination material: drugs, shoplifting, family scandals. He griped to prosecutor Barry Krischer, “I hope you recognize that I am quite surprised by the recent turn of events, after you advised me almost two months ago that I was to just ‘chill’ … that the case was to ‘fizzle.’” He pushed for a meeting to peddle “exculpatory evidence.”​

Epstein’s sweetheart 2008 plea deal—13 months with work release—shielded co-conspirators. He kept ties with Summers until 2019, even giving romantic advice.​

Lasting Chill on Free Speech

The smears worked. Chicago Council on Global Affairs canceled their 2007 talk under pro-Israel pressure. Venues demanded “balanced” pro-Israel counter-speakers. Jeffrey Goldberg piled on in The New Republic, likening their views to Osama bin Laden’s and Father Coughlin’s rants. A decade later, Goldberg became The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief.

This proves Mearsheimer and Walt right: criticism of Israel lobby power triggers elite mobilization to silence dissent, protecting foreign interests over America’s. The establishment’s playbook—smear, defund, deplatform—remains alive, but leaks like these expose the rot.

For the full breakdown, watch Ryan Grim on Breaking Points.