Ed Koch and Alan Dershowitz give thumbs down to Hagel

In separate interviews with The Algemeiner, Alan Dershowitz and Ed Koch — two prominent Jewish backers/validators of President Obama — are slamming the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the next secretary of defense.

Dershowitz said the pick is a stinker and will increase the likelihood that Iran pushes forward with its nuclear program. But he still believes in the president:

Asked if he feels personally let down, as a backer of Obama’s recent re-election, Dershowitz said, “There is nothing personal involved, I have always said in the beginning that I don’t expect to agree with all of the decisions of all of the people I support, and the President knows I disagree with him on this one.”

“Even if he is not confirmed it is a bad decision,” Dershowitz added, “because it conveys to the Iranians the President’s state of mind, and they will misunderstand it. They will misunderstand this as believing the president does not want to keep the military option on the table, so the nomination itself will set back the cause of peace, even if he is ultimately not confirmed.”

Koch, a serial flip-flopper on Obama, echoed the Dersh’s Iran comments, adding: “I’m sure that the Arabs are drinking orange juice and toasting Hagel’s good health."

The former New York mayor says he always assumed that the president would "renege on what he conveyed on his support of Israel,” but “it comes a little earlier than I thought it would.” So why did Koch endorse Obama this time around?

 “I did what I thought was warranted and intelligent,” he said, “He was going to win! There was no question about it. I thought it would be helpful to have a Jewish voice there, being able to communicate.”

The Mayor says he has no regrets, “it’s wouldn’t make any difference. The Jews were going to vote for him no matter what. And that’s the nature of the Jews. They are always very solicitous of everybody else except their own needs and community.”