Journal axes gene research on Jews and Palestinians. A keynote research paper by a Spanish geneticist has been pulled from the journal Human Immunology, after being accepted. Indeed, some copies of the journal issue with the paper have already been sent out, and the editors are urging recipients to rip the offending pages out and destroy them.

By studying immune system genetic variations among Middle Eastern populations, the team found no data to suggest that the Jewish ‘race’ is genetically distinct from other Mediterranean peoples. This is not a novel conclusion and supports a number of earlier research results finding no genetic basis for Jewish distinctiveness. The cultural offense is that this can be seen to undermine the meme that “the Jews are a special chosen people and that Judaism can only be inherited.”

After accepting the paper, the journal’s editors now claim it provoked a firestorm of complaints based on its political bias and the ‘inappropriateness’ of suggestions that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is based in ‘cultural and religious, but not in genetic differences.’ The paper’s lead author has reportedly not seen or been given an opportunity to respond to such criticisms. He does concede he made some unfortunate choices of inflammatory language.

The Guardian comments: “Such a drastic act of self-censorship is unprecedented in research publishing and has created widespread disquiet, generating fears that it may involve the suppression of scientific work that questions Biblical dogma.”