Working Towards A Pluralistic “Israel Lobby”

Mark Thompson has two stellar posts on AIPAC. First he explains why AIPAC so powerful:

AIPAC has a lobbying budget that ranges between about a 25-40% of all other foreign affairs lobbies combined, although it is still modest compared to many domestic lobbying budgets. 

Then he argues against using the term "Israel Lobby." A fun-size nugget:

Those who wish to challenge AIPAC’s status as the sole “pro-Israel” interest group of any value would do well to recognize that those who blame the “Israel lobby” for our foreign policy often have a different view of whether a “safe, strong, and secure Israel” is an important US policy objective.  Defending such claims, which turn the influential but unremarkable AIPAC into a remarkable conspiratorial cabal, inadvertently undermines the argument that one can be both “pro-Israel” and opposed to AIPAC’s vision of what being “pro-Israel” entails.

For Israel lobby, why not "some passionate supporters of Israel."