"I don't disagree with what you wrote. I thought of saying something about the BDS/"anti-Lobby" correlation, which I agree exists. But I don't see a logical connection between the two. I don't see how favoring an academic boycott (which I don't), for example, follows in any way from one's view of the "lobby". (I don't think you disagree.) How can anyone think this exposes the lobby, or something like that? Does anybody try to seriously make an argument like that?"
You're right, there shouldn't be any rigid logical connection between the two, and there isn't. But as it happens, there has been "spillover" from Chomsky/Finkelstein's relative opposition to one-state/BDS to anti-Lobby rhetoric. So the tactical debate takes on the acrimonious and doctrinaire tones of the Lobby debate, which is about analysis and consequent strategy. Insofar as there is a relationship, it is that focusing on the U.S. government and the international consensus, rather than the Lobby, sharpens the focus on two-state and decreases the relevance of BDS directed at Israel itself. Chomsky's emphasis on institutional divestment from American military-industrial complex corporations is clearly consistent with this. The current campaign re TIAA-CREF is consistent with this, as is the campaign against Caterpillar.
As you know, Seth, this whole discourse is partly due to the KPFA radio program (Voices of the Middle East and North Africa) that interviewed Chomsky about the Lobby, and then Blankfort/Ali Abunimah about the Lobby and BDS, respectively. There was a clear connection established there, perhaps not with the intent of Abunimah, but certainly with Blankfort. From there you had the comments on Mondoweiss which both of us participated in and have linked to, where I discovered for the first time Blankfort's nastiness and smear tactics, and the seriousness of the Stalinism of the Lobby doctrine.
It was also, I must say, rather disconcerting to hear the interviewer on that program condescend to Chomsky. Since then, Blankfort has been making a habit of it, as did Alison Weir, apparently.
DG