Jon Chait on Mearsheimer's Data-Free Idiocy

John Mearsheimer, in his "Some of My Best Jews" speech last week, stated: "Zionism's core beliefs are deeply hostile to the very notion of a Palestinian state, and this makes it difficult for many Israelis to embrace the two-state solution."

Jon Chait goes to town on this one:

In fact, a 2009 poll of Israelis and Palestinians jointly commissioned by One Voice Israel and One Voice Palestine explodes Mearsheimer's data-free assertions. In the survey, when asked about a Palestinian state from the Jordan river to the sea -- that is, occupying all of Israel -- 71% of Palestinians called such an option "essential," and another 11% called it "desirable." By contrast, when Israelis were asked about a Greater Israel occupying the same territory, just 17% called it essential, and another 10% desirable. This proves the opposite of Mearsheimer's claim: most Israelis do not reject the notion of a Palestinian state.

None of this is to imply that the Palestinian desire to completely uproot Israel is the only impediment to a two-state solution. The point is merely that Mearsheimer's world view is both wildly slanted and rooted in empirically false beliefs.