The American Left and the Middle East (Part 5): Molly Yard was a fierce political activist for (liberal) feminism and for progressive causes in general. When she was the leader of the National Organization for Women in the late 1980s, a group of us Arabs in Washington, DC, met with her hoping to urge her to address the Palestinian question. She would not budge. We would talk to her about Palestinian women under Israeli occuapation, about Zionist murder of Palestinian civilians, and she would reply: "The Security of Israel" is very important, and Israel has the right to defend itself, etc." I had to fight the urge to doze off.