I agree with this article but I think that Pfeffer has ignored the two most glaring faults of pro-Israel lobbying. The first is that the views of the lobbyists are so strident, so lacking in nuance, so frequently mistaken and so obviously projected through money and influence, that nobody with any intelligence or humanity believes them anymore. As a result,they don't believe anything said in defence of Israel, even when it's wholly true and justified. The second is that commentators (including those who happen to be Jewish) feel the need to distance themselves wholly from Israel rather than be associated with the drivel that the lobby comes out with. No respectable jourmnalist or pundit wants to be thought of as not having a mind of their own, as thinking with their genes rather than their brains or being too scared of the lobbyists to speak up. The whole lobbying effort is a massive 'home goal', unworthy of a country that plays soccer as its national sport.