From the BBC (subscription required), we get this snippet from its international news-monitoring service describing what’s being reported in Iran:

Editorial headlined “Neo-conservative lobbyists along with Israel”: The editorial refers to the formation of a new Israeli lobby in the US — the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI) — and says that it includes unhappy Jews, who intend to gain an important role in the US practical policy and decision-making system so that they can influence the process of appointing senators, congressmen, governors and other state authorities directly.

This leaves even me almost speechless. Almost.

First, if you’re going to start a pro-Israel group, nothing beats a shout-out from the mullahs. It does cement one’s bona fides as a genuinely pro-Israel group committed to its defense against an existential threat from Iran, no? (Every press guy and gal in town is now groaning as they envision the phone ringing with demands from their boss. “No I can’t get you a condemnation by Ahmadinejad! I have no idea how they managed that!”) Second, I think the ECI folks are pretty happy to be engaged in a battle of ideas, especially after that missive. But there are a lot of American Jews not happy with Obama’s Israel policy. The idea that such people might become engaged in a debate about what it means to be “pro-Israel” and begin to focus on the voting records of candidates (not just their self-descriptions) seems to be making the mullahs very unhappy.

I think the really unhappy Jews these days are the J Streeters, who are being beaten about the ears by a group that’s been around less than two weeks.