![\"\u05d0\u05e8\u05d4"\u05d1](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/H1HwCk7JJl_0_0_1000_668_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Israel")
<\/a><\/p>\nIsrael spent tens of millions of dollars to inluence public opinion in the US<\/p>\n
(Photo: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
Israel has hired at least six companies over the past year to assist in its public influence efforts in the United States. Dozens of people, many of them marketing professionals, have registered as foreign agents for Israel.<\/p>\n
According to Nick Cleveland-Stout, a foreign influence researcher at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Israel is on track to spend more than any other country on American influence efforts known to the federal government. He noted that other countries, such as Qatar, have spent large sums over the years on influence campaigns.<\/p>\n
Brad Parscale is chief strategy officer at Salem Media, a company that hosts popular conservative podcasters and broadcasters<\/p>\n (Photo: AP)<\/p>\n Parscale\u2019s work has drawn scrutiny because of his role as chief strategy officer at Salem Media, a company that hosts popular conservative podcasters and broadcasters, including Hugh Hewitt, Scott Jennings and Lara Trump. According to the Journal investigation, his initial contract with Israel included \u201cintegrating narrative messages into Salem Media assets and aligned distribution channels.\u201d<\/p>\n Salem Media and Parscale said they do not pay their hosts to say anything specific about Israel, and that the money was spent on more than $500,000 worth of online advertising.<\/p>\n \u201cOur hosts built their careers by saying exactly what they think, not by reading someone else\u2019s script,\u201d said Salem CEO David Santrella. Many Salem hosts are longtime supporters of Israel who at times echo one another\u2019s messages.<\/p>\n Parscale\u2019s contract with Israel is significantly larger than those of other Trump advisers who have worked for foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, India and Qatar, which the Journal said typically paid lobbyists tens of thousands of dollars a month, according to filings.<\/p>\n Parscale worked on Trump\u2019s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, gaining public attention for his use of the data firm Cambridge Analytica to collect Facebook data. He is no longer in regular contact with the president but has ties to Trump\u2019s family.<\/p>\n In late 2024, he flew to Israel to present his proposal to the government, telling officials that companies he built and invested in were \u201cprobably the biggest thing outside Fox News helping fight misinformation and Jewish hate.\u201d He returned regularly to brief Israeli officials.<\/p>\n The effort includes creating websites, posts and links with pro-Israel content designed, among other things, to produce more favorable results about Israel in AI chatbots such as Claude or ChatGPT. At times, AI bots shared links to websites such as Allyvia.org about the U.S.-Israel alliance, which was built by Parscale\u2019s team.<\/p>\n One goal is \u201cto understand the biggest concerns people have about Israel and fight them, while reporting the responses to the Israeli government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Parscale is also an investor in a company called Influentable, which pays social media influencers for posts. He said he did not hire influencers for Israel.<\/p>\n Recipients of Israel\u2019s messaging sometimes felt they might be part of a broader campaign. Jewish artist Beth Surdut received one of the \u201cFriends for Peace\u201d text messages in June, asking for her opinion on Israel. She noticed that the conversation felt circular: Everything she said was rephrased and sent back to her in another text message.<\/p>\n \u201cI said to him, \u2018I don\u2019t think you\u2019re a real person\u2019 \u2014 and he tried to persuade me to think that he was,\u201d she said in an interview.<\/p>\n Example of a conversation published in the investigation (translated from Hebrew):<\/p>\n The messages are managed by Sparkfire, a company that says its AI-based text messages can conduct more productive conversations than traditional text campaigns. As of mid-May, the company had received $6.5 million to carry out the work.<\/p>\n A Sparkfire spokesperson said in a statement that \u201chuman team members are involved throughout the conversation process and interact directly with recipients.\u201d<\/p>\n But \u201cFriends for Peace\u201d does not appear to exist as a nonprofit organization or limited liability company. Asked whether it is a real organization, Parscale replied: \u201cWhat do you define as a real organization?\u201d<\/p>\n Surdut also could not find a website for the group, and grew suspicious.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if it is a cause I believe in, I don\u2019t want to have a conversation with artificial intelligence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s efforts extend beyond Parscale. A group called Show Faith by Works filed documents laying out plans to send pro-Israel messages, especially to megachurch attendees and Christian students. The group claimed it could reach about 4 million people in the southwestern United States through a \u201cgeofencing\u201d campaign, which sends messages based on location.<\/p>\n The group, founded last July, said the work would include creating \u201cpositive connections with the nation of Israel while linking the Palestinian population to extremist factions,\u201d at a cost of more than $3 million. It said it planned to approach influential people as part of the effort, naming actor Chris Pratt and basketball star Steph Curry as two examples of ideal spokespeople<\/a>. Steph Curry was identified as an ideal spokesperson<\/p>\n (Photo: Abbie Parr\/AP)<\/p>\n The Journal noted that a representative for Pratt said he had never been contacted, while a representative for Curry did not respond.<\/p>\n In an email, Show Faith by Works founder Chad Schnittger said the group has \u201csince gone in a different direction,\u201d and that the budget was redirected mainly \u201cto building a mobile museum with custom video displays.\u201d<\/p>\n Other Israeli efforts focus on the American left, the Journal noted. The war in Gaza has sparked deep disputes among Democrats over whether support for Israel still has a place in the party.<\/p>\n Yoav Davis, who founded the popular Instagram page @Jews_of_NY, which has 193,000 followers, runs a marketing company that has a contract with Israel. The work includes taking part in calls with an \u201cinfluencer management team\u201d and \u201ccontract talent management.\u201d<\/p>\n Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met, after his UN General Assembly speech, with pro-Israel influencers and spoke with them about the challenges in the new era, and the public diplomacy efforts and the influence of the social networks on the discourse for and against Israel. pic.twitter.com\/SX397fx7hn<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Brad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8375637_15_0_1284_867_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Brad")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/rkKhOQcNzx_0_0_1091_1442_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\u05e7\u05e8\u05d9\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/rkCHucltke_0_0_3000_1995_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Steph")
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