The New York Times has published a bold op-ed by Rula Jebreal, called “Minority Life in Israel,” that focuses on Palestinian conditions west of the Green Line and ends by saying, “Israel needs… a civil rights movement.” The piece is already drawing harsh comment at the Times site because of its simple descriptions of Palestinian life inside Israel. So far the piece has appeared on-line and in print in the International NYT.

Jebreal was born in Israel, but tells us that when she visits the country with her American husband, he breezes right in while she gets strip-searched. What a country! Her cousin was afraid to walk on the beach near Haifa last summer because of expressions of hatred toward Arabs during the Gaza onslaught. And: it is “virtually impossible for a Palestinian to buy or rent a home in any majority-Jewish city.” I didn’t know that. Did you?

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National leaders proudly promote hate policies. Israel’s foreign minister and the leader of the secular nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, has championed a call to boycott the businesses of Palestinian citizens of Israel and, ominously, has even sought to make the “transfer” of Palestinians legal. Secretary of State John Kerry has met with Mr. Lieberman — apparently without challenging him on such reprehensible views.

This is the atmosphere in which Israel’s Palestinians live. And there is no redress available to us elsewhere. Our rights and welfare certainly cannot be represented by the Palestinian Authority, whose jurisdiction is limited to partial control of the population of the West Bank. Its president, Mahmoud Abbas, cannot negotiate for us because we are Israeli citizens. Israel, however, prefers not to think of us as such, and thus resorts to all manner of petty aggressions to prove it, like trying to deny my daughter a new passport.