This news is sure to gin up a few conspiracy theories. According to a Jewish Web site, the proportion of Jews in the legislature has risen. Now 13 Jews are in the Senate, up from 11. In the House the numbers are 30 and 24.

The rise in Democrats explains most of the difference, however, so Mearsheimer and Walt can sit this one out. The number of Democrats rose 14.5 percent in the House and 13 percent in the Senate, compared to the number of Jews rising 25 percent and 18 percent respectively. I’m no statistician, but since almost 90 percent of Jews voted Democrat, I don’t think it’s a significant disproportion. (Of course, Jews were overrepresented relative to the American population before; I explained a theory why in a previous post.)

One criticism people should take seriously, however, is what this means for support for Israel. I support Israel on the simple grounds it’s a fairly decent democracy (though I’m confused about the finer points of the region’s history), but I think there is a credible case that siding with the country hurts our interests in many ways.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.

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