The “Jewish cow” is the most productive cow in the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest boast about miraculous Israeli innovations came in an award speech he made last week (for the actor Michael Douglas), which was published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

[Y]ou got your cell phone? You have Israel in your palm. So many applications, so many innovations. You drink a glass of water, not only in Israel but in many countries now, you’re drinking the product of Israeli technology and number one in recycling. I was in China with President Xi and they said: We want to have your dairy industry. They have to feed a lot of– they drink a lot of milk in China. And I said: Well, that’s a very good choice because you know which cow produces more milk per cow than any other cow? You think it’s a Dutch cow or French cow? No, it’s a Jewish cow. It’s a computerized cow. Every moo is computerized. And the same is true of water. You want to drink just to live, but hundreds of millions around the world are enjoying the products of Israeli innovation. That’s the old problem that we’ve solved with new techniques.

The use of the term “Jewish cow” is ugly. He’s not talking about an “Israeli cow;” he’s using the language of “racial science,” of evil provenance. At minute 8:30 below:

We’ve often heard that Israel invented the cherry tomato, or drip irrigation, but this is the best brag of all.

By the way, NPR continued its series on Israel’s water innovations last weekend. We scooped them on the cow, though.