Smart Jews, Stupid Israeli Officials

Washington Post Opinion By Richard Cohen:

“Jews are a famously accomplished group. They make up 0.2 percent of the world population, but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the medicine laureates.” So began a New York Times column by David Brooks from January. My own library has several books about Jewish brainpower -- the usual awesome statistics -- but nothing on why the dumbest Jews work for the Israeli government.

The latest proof of that, call it the Cohen theorem, is the refusal to allow the famed linguist Noam Chomsky to enter the West Bank from Jordan. Chomsky wasn’t found with explosives hidden in his underwear or secreted under his shirt, as is the quaint custom in certain parts of the world. All he was found to have were views harshly critical of the country he was attempting to visit.

“Israel doesn’t like what you say,” Chomsky said he was told by the border police. He said he was asked all sorts of question about why he was going to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University, a West Bank institution. The proper answer to that is that he was invited because his views and those of Palestinians are identical. This is the case, even though Chomsky once lived in Israel and speaks Hebrew.

It should be pointed out that the United States, among other countries, has at times closed its doors to certain critics, especial if they can be “linked,” that most plastic of words, to a terrorist group or individual. It also should be pointed out that that is stupid.

Israel’s treatment of Chomsky is also stupid. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has repudiated it and acts as if some border guard took it upon himself to vet Chomsky’s work and deem it repugnant. This, though, is yet another example of Netanyahu’s office being taken by surprise by some minor official. It said it knew nothing of the decision to announce yet more Jewish housing in East Jerusalem when vice president Joe Biden was visiting there. Now this.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz suggested in an editorial that Israel is behaving like South Africa in the 1960s. As if often the case with anything Israeli, that’s a fulsome exaggeration, but one that would not be possible if the government started acting as if it cared about civil liberties and had a decent regard for the opinions of others. If that were the case, then Netanyahu would see to it that the relevant official is drawn, quartered or otherwise admonished, lest we all have to revise our estimation of Jewish brainpower. One of the books I have on the subject is Sander Gilman’s Smart Jews. He clearly was not referring to the Israeli government.

Washington Post Opinion By Richard Cohen