TULSA, Okla. – Next week, as millions of people around the world celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, we in the Jewish community will mark the occasion with a pivotal milestone: the first-ever Jewish LGBT Movement Building Convening, to be held June 27-29 in California.

Organized by the leading Jewish LGBT organizations, Keshet and Nehirim, the gathering will bring together 100 leaders of LGBT synagogues, organizations, foundations and other representatives to create a unified Jewish LGBT agenda for change.

It is time for the world to get the facts straight. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Palestinian leadership lives in luxury on the millions of dollars of aid sent to the Palestinians. Israel allows ample supplies of food, medical supplies, and all necessities for normal living into Gaza via the crossing checkpoints. The only items not allowed into Gaza are those that can be used to manufacture explosives and rockets.

The American people will not be fooled. Americans are risking their lives fighting the Muslim terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Iran and Syria, enemies of America have sworn to annihilate the democratic State of Israel, a true friend of our country.

Our Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force are on strong alert to intercept any attempts by terrorists to smuggle weapons, and will board any transport involved in this effort. We know that Iran has developed long-range missiles. The chief of Hezbollah in Lebanon last week boasted that Iran has supplied long-range missiles to Lebanon.

They now want their long-range missiles to reach their allies, the Hamas in Gaza. Do we not recall a fully loaded ship with bombs, missiles, guns and other weapons from Iran to Gaza? All media showed the weapons as they were displayed by Israel. Thousands of Iranian missiles have already exploded on the State of Israel. Israel is not going to commit suicide to please European nations by allowing these long-range missiles to land in Gaza.

Fifteen million tons of humanitarian supplies enter Gaza from Israel, plus millions of dollars. Occasionally, on TV, we get a view of a Gaza market plus loads of fruits, vegetables, and other supplies. The final fallacy in this entire tragic affair is that the trucks loaded with goods reached the Gaza checkpoint and Hamas refused them entry. So who is concerned about the well-being of the citizens of Gaza? Where do the tens of millions of dollars go after they reach Gaza?

Let us not forget: These terrorists, haters of our American way of life, have already infiltrated our country.

I feel as if I am standing in the valley of the dry bones. Ezekiel’s prophecy, 2,500 years ago, was formed in the milieu of the Babylonian exile. The vision of the dead arising, in life, was intended to breathe hope back into the forlorn, dispersed people of Israel. Today, I too am forlorn. The flotilla fiasco has given rise to the ire of the world. Go to the BBC “Have Your Say” Website and read its contents.

Whether or not Israel is right, whether or not we are permitting 18,000 tons of aid to enter Gaza each week, whether or not international maritime law is on our side, whether or not the IHH has ties to terrorist organizations, all of this matters not. What matters is the picture of military commandos descending on supposed innocents and the consequent loss of life. The world does not care that we immediately evacuated all of the injured to hospitals, or that we released virtually all of the aid (some of it obsolete and worthless) and detainees (well-fed and cared for) within days.

Approximately 40 years ago, one picture from Vietnam showed a Vietcong official being brutally shot in the head on a street. That picture arguably turned the tide of American support for the war. Pictures (and, nowadays, YouTube videos) have great power.

I fear that the flotilla fiasco, a trap that Israel entered on the basis of poor intelligence, is just such a turning point. No amount of public relations or fact-finding will erase the visceral impression of an army attacking “unarmed” civilians and non-combatants.

So what is Israel to do? I see only two choices. These words will be anathema to many. (1) Israel must agree to negotiate with Hamas and accept it as a real political force in the region (and lift the blockade). Or (2), Israel must resolve to eradicate Hamas at any cost, including the invasion and re-occupation of Gaza.

Does this threaten regional war? You bet. But one thing is clear. Israel has been backed into a corner by the events of the past week. It cannot stay there. Playing a waiting game, while Iran develops nuclear weapons, is not an option.

Prime Minister Netanyahu must now decide which way to go — to talk, or to make war. The middle ground is disappearing beneath our feet and becoming a new valley of dry bones.

Helen Thomas should join the United Nations. The only thing united about it is its relentless obsession with Israel-bashing. Ms. Thomas would fit right in. For her to utter such vicious remarks is repulsive. Israel was never an Arab country. Jerusalem was never a capital for anyone but the Jewish people. There are 200 million Arabs surrounding Israel. Why is there no room for 6 million Jews to live in their God-given historic homeland?

The Jewish people are tired of having to justify their existence to the entire world. We don’t want any more memorials for dead Jews. We have the right to defend ourselves. The blatant disregard of video evidence from the boat is hard for me to comprehend.

The Israeli government undertook a dangerous gut-wrenching step when they expelled 8,700 Jews from Gaza for the sake of peace. The Israelis left behind structures to have an economic base for a future state. The day the Jews left the Arabs destroyed everything and established a state of terrorists. Where was Ms. Thomas and the U.N. when 8,000 rockets were shot into residential neighborhoods. The world encouraged ethnic cleansing, and now Gaza is Judenrein.

Does the world even care that Israel provides utilities and water to Gaza? Do they know that Israel provides 15,000 tons of aid every week to Gaza? Does anyone care that Arabs live all over Israel and that Jews can’t live in Arab sections? Do you remember when two Israeli soldiers got lost and found themselves in Ramallah? We all witnessed these two Israelis ripped to pieces in the police station and their bodies thrown out of a window accompanied by cheering from an Arab crowd.

It’s only when the Jewish people rise up to defend themselves that the U.N. cries foul and forces a ceasefire. Arabs can shoot rockets and no one cares, but when the Jews build housing in Jerusalem it’s called an obstacle to peace.

There used to be glorious Jewish communities in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, et al. They no longer exist. The Middle East, except for Israel, is almost Judenrein. If we have learned anything in our long, tumultous history, it is to rely on ourselves. We will no longer be the shtetl Jew led to slaughter, and the world better get used to it, because we’re here to stay.

In “Flotilla fallout becomes rallying cry for U.S. Jews” (June 11), Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, is quoted as saying, “There wouldn’t have been a flotilla if Gazan children had enough food, had schools, and clean water to drink.” This statement is dangerously naïve and represents a J Street buy-in to the vicious cascade of lies about Israel that is raging across the world. The flotilla had nothing to do with helping Gazan children. It is shocking to me that the president of J Street chooses to perpetuate the lies of Israel’s enemies.

Your June 11 coverage of rallies in support of Israel in the wake of the flotilla projects an overly optimistic portrait of community involvement that does not reflect reality. A few protests maxing out at 2,000 or so people mean nothing in what is a rapidly escalating and sophisticated public relations campaign. Where is our leadership? Where is the rally on the Mall in D.C. that this very dangerous situation demands?

This is a war of delegitimization of Israel and, by extension, the Jews on this planet. The American Jewish community, and its allies, must put together a very public response to this delegitimizing atrocity and must do it soon. We cannot afford to repeat the non-response that took place in this country during the Holocaust. Delegitimizing Jews — isn’t that what Hitler did first?

As the pro-Israel community addresses blockade-running Gaza flotillas, the vast majority of U.S. campuses already are on summer break. Certain campuses, including the alma mater of pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie, Evergreen State College, have seen anti-Israel protests and resolutions, but most campuses experienced relatively muted events as they turned attention to exams and summer plans.

The campus discussion this fall will doubtless include the Gaza blockade. But these recent events emphasize an important point: Campuses are different. Campuses operate on different schedules, engage in different discussions, and require different approaches regarding Israel.

So much for Christian charity.

Sister Mary McCauley, the former pastoral administrator at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville, Iowa, who provided support for families affected by the Agriprocessors raid, publicly condemned the complete acquittal of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin on charges of child labor violations as a tragedy. “I was heartsick,” she declared. “I had to just sit and deal with the heartbreak I was feeling.”

Never mind that a jury deliberated only 12 hours to reach a verdict exonerating Rubashkin on all 67 counts. Never mind that Rubashkin, a father of 10 with a long history of charitable acts feeding the hungry and the poor, has been so demonized in the press that it was practically impossible for him to receive a fair trial, and still he was found innocent. The good sister is convinced that the man should have gone down. Her heart tells her so. The jury be damned.