Frankel on the Israel Lobby:

A reader alerts me to a piece in the Washington Post by Glenn Frankel on the Israel lobby, via this email:

I know you made a series of posts about W&M’s paper on the Israel lobby. I commented on a few of your threads (as David in DC).

At least one of the posters asked, “How does one discuss the Israel lobbies without sounding like/being branded an anti-Semite”, or something similar. (The short answer is, don’t invoke old anti-Semitic canards while supporting them with shoddy and one-sided research.)

This piece in the WaPo magazine is a good example of how to do it. When you read it, there is no doubt that AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations wield a ton of power in DC, and this is done without talk of cabals, dual loyalties, and the like.

Although I’m not one of those who accused M&W of anti-Semitism, I agree with the reader’s assessment of Frankel’s piece. I certainly don’t endorse everything Frankel says, but there’s nothing ignorant or repulsive about Frankel’s article, unlike M&W’s paper [for my criticisms of that paper, see here].