High-tech geniuses, remarkable thinkers, and Nobel Prize winning scientists — Israel has them all. But seemingly none of them need as much brainpower as one who can put the brakes on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So says Foreign Policy magazine.

Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan ranks number 63 in the list of its “top global thinkers.” Why? “For being the last man in Israel to stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu.” He recently roundly criticized rumored plans for Israel to strike Iran. The magazine wrote that “when Dagan refers to an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s nuclear installations as ‘the stupidest thing I have ever heard,’ we should pay attention.’” The “stupidest thing” quote was brought to light here.

Interestingly, Palestinians show far better than Israelis is the 100-person list. While Dagan is the only Israeli, there are three Palestinians. President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad take joint 28th place, because if statehood ever comes, “it will owe much to these two men and their steadfast rejection of violence.” Their statehood bid at the United Nations “may have been greeted with cries of dismay in Washington and Tel Aviv, but it galvanized the world’s attention in a way that dozens of suicide bombers never could.”

Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti was ranked 84 because he “pioneered an alternative path that emphasizes nonviolent tactics to delegitimize the Israeli occupation and demands that the Palestinian national movement live up to its ideals.”

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