Op-ed Rebuttal: The Last Word in Debate Series on Israel 

Sherry Wolf's piece is full of the usualmisinformation about Israel.

Wolf claims that only Jewish LGBT people inIsrael enjoy progressive reforms. Simplynot true. All citizens--whether Jewish, Christian, or Muslim--enjoy LGBT rightsin Israel, as I point out in my op-ed piece. LGBT Arabs live openly inIsrael, as they could nowhere else in the Middle East. Aswat, a lesbian Arabgroup was founded in 2003: Guess where in the Middle East? Haifa. JerusalemOpen House, which provides a home to LGBT organizations and is open to all LGBTpeople -- Jews, Christians, and Muslims -- started Alqaws in 2007, a group thatreaches out specifically to LGBT Arab Israelis.

Wolf describes Israeli policies as "racist" and"apartheid." In fact, Arabcitizens of Israel have equal rights under the law. They can worship as theywant. They can vote for whomever they want.As citizens of Israel, they areentitled to a virtually-free education, paid for by the state -- includinguniversity education in some of the best universities in the world. Arabsare in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament); there have been and are ArabIsraeli political ministers and members of the Israeli Supreme Court. Ichallenge Wolf to tell me what apartheid country could say that, or what otherMiddle Eastern country treats its minority citizens as well.

Wolf says that Israel has "brazenly occupiedPalestinian land for decades."Space makes a proper history lesson impossible -- but to be brief: For 400years, the area of "Palestine" was ruled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire -- not"Palestinians."

After Turkey was defeated by the Allies in WorldWar I, the British, with the consent of the League of Nations, becameadministrators of the area. In 1920 the Allied Supreme Council resolved that aJewish state should be established in part of this area (formerly governed bythe Ottoman Empire -- not "Palestinians").

In 1922, the worldwide League of Nations voted touphold the resolution and Britain was given the mandate to see it through.Nothing was done: In the years that followed Jews who had lived for centuriesin Middle Eastern countries -- Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen --became thevictims of numerous bloody and very deadly programs. (I won't reiterate thewell-known story of the destruction of European Jewry around this time, exceptto say that in 1938, Hitler offered to let the Jews of Germany leave; but as thewhole world saw in that year through the Evian Conference, in which FDR broughttogether 30 nations to help find homes for these people, absolutely no country in the world was willing to take inEuropean Jews; even the British, who had been mandated to help establish aJewish state, kept them out of Palestine at this urgent time, at the Arabs'demand.)

Finally, after World War II, the United Nationsvoted by a huge margin (that included not only the United States but also theSoviet Union, almost all the South American countries, almost all of Europe) toestablish under international law two states in the territory -- one forthe Jews and one for the Palestinian Arabs. (The Jews were given about 8,000square miles, which is approximately 1/640 of the Arab countries 5 million-plussquare miles.) The Jews accepted the two-state solution; thePalestinian Arab Higher Committee rejected it. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem(who'd been the instigator of a deadly program against the Jews in Palestine in1929 and had been Hitler's ally during the war) urged all Palestinians to fleeimmediately and to return as soldiers fighting for the entire territory. Mostof them did flee; they came back to fight, and they lost the war in 1948.

Now, Israel took in refugees fleeing fromanti-Semitism around the world, including from other Middle Eastern countries;but the Arab countries, with their 5 million square miles, refused to take inPalestinians -- who shared both language and religion with them -- in what couldhave been an equitable population exchange. It was these Arab countries thatcreated the refugee crisis. (Incidentally, in what sense are people whonever saw the inside of Israel, as is true of most people who call themselvesPalestinian today, "refugees." Am I a "refugee" from Eastern Europe because mymother and her family had once lived there?)

Wolf is critical of Israel's response to Gaza. If Gaza stopped firing its tens of thousands ofQassan rockets into Israel (sometimes over 100 per day), Israel could stopretaliating for them. What would you want your government to do if Mexico(which has a very long and strong historical claim to California, andindeed, to all of the Southwest) started firing rockets on territory that isnow the United States? How about if the Native Americans decided to take backManhattan, where they'd once lived, and started firing a few rockets?

Finally, Wolf claims there is widespread malnutritionin Gaza. Not according to Mathildede Riedmatten, who is the head of the Red Cross delegation in Gaza. Even the ChristianScience Monitor (not exactly a"pro-Israel rag") has to admit that there is plentiful food in the supermarketsof Gaza. But such misinformation as Wolf disseminates in her op-ed piece istypical of anti-Israel propagandists, who even put out the word recently thatMs. Riedmatten (whose name they misspelled Redmattn) was a fictitious characterand did not work for the Red Cross -- though even the Christian ScienceMonitor managed to find her andhas confirmed what she'd said.

But anti-Israel propagandists, such as Ms. Wolf inthese pages, have little interest in truth or accuracy.

Lillian Faderman has published nine books on LGBThistory and literature. She is the recipient of several LGBT lifetimeachievement awards, including Yale University's James Brudner Award, theMonette/Horwitz Award, Publishing Triangle's Bill Whitehead Award, and the ONENational Archives Culture Hero Award.