His article reminds me of the "blame the messenger" attacks (see for example Emily Amrusi's comments) against Peace Now in the wake of Peace Now's publication of Israeli-government data proving that most Israeli settlements are built (in part) on privately-owned Palestinian land, and not state land (i.e. unclaimed land) as official Israel had claimed.

Below is an excerpt of Pfeffer's article. The full article is here.

"I believe that Israelis should be grateful to Jews around the world who are ready to stand up for this country. In many places, and especially in Britain, the role of Israel's advocate is a thankless job. Few successful Jewish journalists in London are prepared to constantly wear their heart on their sleeve for Israel as Phillips does. It is not just the inherently hostile atmosphere toward the Jewish state, it is also sheer exhaustion. Barely a week goes by without another couple of reports from nongovernmental organizations or United Nations agencies lambasting Israel for war crimes, with at best only scant mention of the crimes of its enemies. Just this week, there were four new reports detailing the IDF's alleged atrocities in the Gaza operation.

"So just imagine: You have spent untold hours picking apart a 120-page report, hunted down ambiguities and hypocrisies, painstakingly found evidence to refute the claims, and the next series of allegations is already upon you. But now, it is not another group of latent anti-Semites and Israel-bashers; this time, it is coming from Israeli newspapers, quoting Israeli soldiers. I can understand the frustration. But all too often, that frustration translates itself into angry responses that brand Israelis who are sincerely concerned for their society and the actions of their government as traitors to the cause...

"Discussions like the one in Oranim Academy are going on in many places around Israel. The vast majority of Israelis still believe that the Gaza operation was unavoidable and that in fighting an enemy such as Hamas, significant civilian casualties are inevitable despite all the precautions. But the question of whether those precautions were sufficient, or alternatively excessive, and of how we minimize the number of 'rotten apples' that turn up in every army will not go away.

"These debates are taking place in academies, in homes, in yeshivas, in kibbutz dining halls and also in many parts of the army itself. Some of them are being recorded and will come out in the media and, later, as books. And they have a hallowed place in Israeli culture... it is an integral part of what this society is about...

"Jews in Britain and other countries who speak up for Israel before hostile audiences are often bullied and told that they cannot be staunch supporters of Israel and loyal citizens at the same time, and that they should blame only themselves when Jews are attacked in response to 'Israel's crimes.' To that they respond, quite rightly, that as citizens of a democratic country, they have every right to support Israel, and that being afraid to do so would be surrendering to anti-Semitism.

"'Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East,' they constantly say in its defense. We also believe that. But if we were to refrain from voicing our concerns over the direction in which the country has been going for too long, it would not be much of a democracy any more. And if we were to ask ourselves, before publishing every report, how it will be used by Israel's ill-wishers, that would surely be the ultimate capitulation to anti-Semitism."