QUOTE OF THE DAY

Powerline ^ | 23 Sep 2026 | Scott Johnson

[Rummyfan]

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal and theater critic for the New Criterion. Hs ia also a regular contributor to the Journal’s Free Expression site, which is accessible to nonsubscribers. His most recent Free Expression column is “You May Have Israel Derangement Syndrome.” This is how it opens:

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The Israel Defense Forces may be the smartest and the most resourceful military on the face of the earth. Yet its most implacable foe is increasingly elusive, even as it spreads everywhere. It has already captured a gigantic prize: the minds of young people. New enlistees are eagerly signing up.

What they’re pledging themselves to is IDS, or Israel Derangement Syndrome. When the subject turns to the Jewish state, formerly robust minds are turning to spoiled mayonnaise. Frontal autolobotomies are eagerly being carried out on every campus. IDS is a drug that gets you high on self-righteousness while disabling your cognitive faculties.

This is your brain on IDS: Last week a major media outlet published a piece regarding Israel so devoid of all reason as to guarantee first-ballot entry to the Hall of Fame for Idiots. My first thought was to call 911 and report evidence of an adverse neurological event. My second thought was to call the Weekly World News to say I could finally confirm all those reports that there exists an adult human without a brain.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Politics; Society
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