The paper “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” written by Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, has met so much controversy, including on this page from Professor Alan Dershowitz (March 31) that it would seem useless to add fuel to the bonfire. However, one point in their paper needs further elucidation because it is partially true. In their attempt to show that Israel is not a democracy, and thus not worthy of American support, the authors write:

“Israel was explicitly founded as a Jewish state and citizenship is based on the principle of blood kinship. Given this, it is not surprising that its 1.3 million Arabs are treated as second-class citizens.”

Israeli Arabs have full political rights, they and their descendants are all full citizens and they elect mainly Arab parties to the Knesset. Under Israeli law, not only is any discrimination against them forbidden, but the Knesset has passed a series of laws giving Israeli Arabs preferential rights in employment in the civil service, as well as on the boards of government corporations.

True; these laws are not fully applied; Arab representation in the civil service and the governmental boards is still very low. There is a substantial budgetary discrimination against Arab local authorities. All this is true – and yet the “Israel Lobby” paper is only half the truth; it omits important factors.

In dealing with the Arab minority in Israel, we are not dealing with an ordinary majority/minority syndrome. Israeli Arabs belong to an Arab majority engulfing Jewish Israel and Israeli Jews feel like a menaced minority in a sea of Arabs and Moslem animosity. Moreover, the leaders of the Arab minority do not merely demand equal rights but seek to destroy the Jewish nature of the country and to turn it into a binational state; they openly support Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations and advocate the “Armed struggle against Israel.” A prominent Arab member of the Knesset went to Syria, sat with the leaders of Hezbollah and supported their “struggle”; another member declared in the Knesset, “We’ll kick you out, in the same way as we kicked out the Turks and the British.” Arab human rights groups in Israel – there are virtually none in Arab countries – complain bitterly to U.N. agencies against Israel, equating it with the apartheid regime in South Africa. In short, the Jewish-Arab relations inside Israel are marred by an exacerbating national conflict.

As a result of this, Israel exempts all its Arab citizens from military service. This exemption causes much resentment among Jewish and Druze youngsters who have to spend at least 3 long years in the army, risk their lives, and postpone their studies and careers.

Furthermore, the Israel lobby paper turns a blind eye to the fact that aside from a deficit in budgeting and representation, Israeli Arabs enjoy collective group rights that ethnic and linguistic minorities unsuccessfully fight for in other countries. Arabic is a second official language. Arab schools, totally financed by the state, teach in Arabic – including Islamic studies. Islam is a recognized religion. The Sharia courts have jurisdiction in all family law matters; an Israeli stamp celebrated one of Islam’s holiest mosques; a room in the Knesset has been designated a mosque; an Islamic theological college is recognized by the state; Islamic holidays are official days of rest for the Arab population. The Israeli Supreme Court has recently decided the rule of equality should govern budgetary allocations.

True, there are gaps between Arabs and Jews with regard to health, educational, and economic indicators, but, as I showed in a paper last year issued by the American Jewish Committee, these gaps are rapidly reducing. Thus, for instance, life expectancy of Israeli Arab males (74.7 in 2002), while somewhat lower than that of the Israeli male Jews (77.9), is slightly higher than the American male life expectancy figure of 74.6 years.

Furthermore, there are substantial differences between Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs. Despite the fact that both communities share a common origin, language, and nationalist feelings, the Christians, who are 10% of Israeli Arabs, have achieved a very high standard of living, and their health and education indicators are higher than those of the Jews. Indeed, infant mortality – 2.7 per 10,000 births – is among the world’s lowest (the American figure is 6.8), which indicates that there is something wrong with the accusation that Israel’s policies are to blame for every ill.

Israel, like all democracies, is a flawed democracy. Only academic dissertations are flawless. These flaws should be rectified. But to describe Israel as a non-democracy, as the Israel Lobby paper does, is either willful negligence or premeditated prejudice.

Mr. Rubinstein is president of the Inter-disciplinary Center Herzliyah and an Israel Prize laureate for 2006.