Another in an unending list of reminders about the insane hypocrisy of anti-Israel feminist activists, almost all of whom reflexively bring a "gender lens" to bear on every other domestic and international controversy. Immigration? Gender. Toy stores? Gender. Health care? Definitely gender. But the Israeli-Arab conflict? Well, in that context you have to be very careful to weigh the "legitimate grievances of the Palestinians" against their Islamist-driven pathological opposition to women's rights.

So while Israel just gave the world the first female Nobel Chemistry laureate in 45 years...

Yonath, 70, is the fourth woman to win the Nobel chemistry prize and the first since 1964, when Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin of Britain received the award. "I'm really, really happy," Yonath said. "I thought it was wonderful when the discovery came. It was a series of discoveries. ... We still don't know every, everything, but we progressed a lot." Ribosomes are crucial to life because they produce the proteins that control the chemistry of plants, animals and humans. Working separately, the three laureates used a method called X-ray crystallography to pinpoint the positions of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.

... Hamas has been obsessing about the corrosive un-Islamic influence of women who ride motorcycles:

The Hamas government has banned women from riding motorcycles in the Gaza Strip, saying the move was in keeping with "Arab traditions." The decision to ban women from riding motorcycles was published by the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the movement's security forces in the Gaza Strip. The decision is seen in the context of Hamas's efforts to enforce strict Islamic teachings in the area. Two months ago, a Hamas judge issued an order requiring all women who appear in court to wear the hijab.

This lines up nicely with Hamas's recent ban on women laughing or talking in public. The double ban - the addition of laughter - was a nice touch. I think most people long ago gave up any hope that the left's opposition of Israel would ever be rational. But is it too much to ask for then to be consistent?

It's important to remember, though, that women are oppressed in Muslim societies not because of Islam but because of oil. So go the insights of political science professor Michael Ross, a very sophisticated UCLA scholar who actually has a paper on this subject. So but for the Gaza Strip's massive oil wealth, we can presume none of this would be happening.

References and previously after the jump...