harshly criticizing israel?

i must say that i find jackson diehl's column today just kind of bizarre. even though i think the response to syria has been far too mild, the criticism of israel is extremely restrained. he's not calling for the ouster of the government, or nailing the brutality of israeli policies toward the palestinians, or talking about apartheid etc. but you get the same response among republican presidential candidates, appealing to this bizarre endtimes-christian/israel connection: any qualification of total support, any hint of criticism of israeli policies no matter how vague or mild, is completely unacceptable. surely no government anywhere, much less one as engaged in...problematic activities as israel, can be this immune from scrutiny.