What Does "Pro-Israel" Mean, Part 97

Goldblog reader Menachem Pritzker asks, in reference to J Street:

Are there any other examples of a Washington lobby that knows "better" than the party they're lobbying for?  Would it be possible, say, for a group to lobby for raising the minimum age for buying cigarettes to 25, and doubling tobacco taxes, and still get away with calling themselves a "pro-tobacco lobby?"  Why would they even want to?

It seems ridiculous to me that a group with positions farther to the left than Meretz could position itself as lobbying on behalf of us.  From an Israeli perspective, this whole J-Street episode has been insulting, upsetting, and very confusing.