POLITICS: Jews and the American Government

This article underscores Mearsheimer and Walt's point that the Israeli media is more likely than the U.S. one to point out the power held by American Jews.

It is, of course, not surprising that Jews hold many of the most prominent positions in our society. Ashkenazic Jews in particular have an average IQ of 115, so they are bound for overrepresentation in the most demanding professions.

Mearsheimer and Walt, of course, argue it's more nefarious than that - the Jewish Lobby's disproportionate influence on foreign policy forces America into violent conflicts needlessly. I don't think this news lends any credence to that idea, but it's not inconsistent with it, either.

Also, thanks to the media (NOT!) for informing us that the pro-Israel Alan Dershowitz's response to the Mearsheimer and Walt paper has been available for three weeks. I'll blog about it once I get around to reading the whole thing. If anything, the fact that M/W got a ton of media attention, and Dershowitz's response got none, shows a bias against the pro-Israel side.