[Chris Alger]

"Everyone admits that both sides want to use the media, but most reporters feel that the pro-Israel lobby is far more sophisticated and efficient. Neil Macdonald of CBC says that Jewish groups in North America are very well organized--the Arab groups are hopeless. Macdonald sees Arabs sending e-mails protesting perceived bias, whereas Jews will go straight to the president of the company. "I consider it advocacy--I don't take it personally, he explains.' Plenty of reporters will tell you that e mail from the Jewish lobby is a form of intimidation, claims Phil Reeves of The Independent. Israeli officials are pretty good at meeting with senior media staff back in the UK if there's a piece of reporting they find problematic."

This probably helps explain one of the Israel lobby's greatest successes: the widespread and utterly fatuous belief that the U.S. media are "unfair" or "biased against" Israel.