I was looking for an objective measure. Obviously Israel is not perfect, but is there any metric on which a country in the middle east beats Israel? Like surely there's some microstate that at least has a functioning democracy, gay rights, religious freedom, etc? Perhaps Iraq post-invasion?

It used to be Lebanon in the 70s. But yeah thats long over. I think Baharain is the closest to being a democracy in the ME after Israel

Israel has palestinians and arabs as part of its government, and they can get citizenship and full rights. Is the reverse true anywhere else in the middle east? Can Jews get citizenship and participate in government in any middle eastern country?

Except the ones that live in Gaza and the West Bank, right?

And just because they have some representation in government, doesn't mean they don't get treated as second-class citizens.

Those are now different countries. Most countries require you to be a citizen to be elected to its government.

Jewish people, or anyone in fact, can't just pitch up, enclose some land and build a settlement, and then claim citizenship over it in other countries in the region, no.

If you think that is what happened, I have some books to recommend to you.