Israel spent hundreds of millions of shekels on digital campaigns, influencers, and public relations companies in the United States and Europe, in an attempt to improve its image and influence public opinion, but the results were the opposite, with support for it declining, criticism mounting within the Donald Trump administration, and US Vice President J.D. Vance accusing Israeli parties of trying to obstruct Washington’s policy towards Iran.
According to a report by journalist Itamar Eichner, in the Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth”, an investigation published by the American “Time” magazine this week revealed that Israel paid about $1.5 million per month to Brad Parscale, who managed Donald Trump’s digital campaign in 2016, as part of an effort to influence American public opinion, especially conservative youth and supporters of the “MAGA” movement.
According to the investigation, the campaign included the operation of influencers, the production of massive amounts of content, as well as attempts to influence the way artificial intelligence systems display information related to Israel.
But instead of strengthening Israel’s standing within the United States, the results were the opposite, as suspicions grew within the Trump administration that some of these activities were intended to influence the debate regarding the president’s policy toward Iran.
The report quoted a senior Israeli official as saying: “We paid a lot of money, but the situation only got worse.”
The storm worsened after US Vice President J.D. Vance touched on the “Time” investigation during an interview with Joe Rogan’s podcast, accusing parties in Israel of running an “influence campaign funded with huge sums,” which he said aimed to sabotage the US administration’s efforts to reach understandings with Iran and prolong the confrontation.
Vance strongly attacked the parties involved in these activities, stressing that when he discovered that influencers were receiving money from entities linked to Israel and were working against the policy he was pushing for, his response was: “Let them go to hell.”
The report considered that a sitting US Vice President publicly accusing Israeli parties of trying to influence US foreign policy is an exceptional and dangerous event, and reveals the depth of the crisis that has arisen around Israeli influence activities.
However, the Parscale case represents only the tip of the iceberg, as behind the campaign that was revealed is a broader propaganda and influence apparatus, which during the past year and a half has received huge and unprecedented budgets.
When Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar took office, about 545 million shekels were allocated to the Israeli international propaganda system, in an attempt to address the severe crisis that struck Israel’s image after the war.
During the years 2026 and 2027, Sa’ar succeeded in securing an additional two billion shekels, an unprecedented amount in the history of Israeli propaganda.
But senior officials in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that a large portion of the funds was not transferred through professional mechanisms within the ministry, and that the primary responsibility for managing budgets was transferred to the director general of the ministry, Eden Bartal, and to Eran Sheovitz, an external consultant hired by the minister.
According to these officials, Bartal and Siewitz worked on several occasions without sufficient coordination at the professional level, without the full participation of the Department of Public Diplomacy, and sometimes without the knowledge of the Israeli embassies themselves.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the work plan and propaganda budget for 2026 were coordinated with all professional bodies in the ministry.
However, Israeli diplomats confirmed that some of the ambassadors discovered after the fact that there were campaigns and influence activities carried out in the countries in which they worked, and that was only after local officials contacted them and asked them about the nature of these activities.
Cases were recorded in which public relations companies hired by Israel held briefings with journalists, editors-in-chief, and decision-makers, without informing the Israeli mission in the country in question, and without the presence of the Israeli ambassador.
Three main channels accounted for most of the budget: digital campaigns, delegations, and contracting with public relations companies abroad.
Regarding the delegations file, officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the results were modest at best, and miserable at worst, as hundreds of guests were brought to Israel, but some of them already had limited public influence, or had clearly adopted pro-Israel positions before the visit.
One official described the result by saying: “They convinced those who were already convinced.”
In contrast, other officials said that influencers were not enthusiastic about visiting Israel during this period, which made finding suitable candidates difficult.
In the field of digital campaigns, the criticism was more severe, as employees at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the professionals who were supposed to be responsible for this area were effectively excluded from the process.
The campaigns were run directly with the Government Advertising Bureau and external companies, without sufficient internal transparency and strict professional oversight.
The third channel was to contract with public relations companies and influence consultants within the targeted countries, especially in the United States and Europe.
According to sources familiar with the file, in this context, influencers were recruited, campaigns were run on social media sites, and activities were implemented aimed at shaping public discourse in the targeted countries.
A senior Foreign Ministry official said: “Diplomacy and propaganda are professions. The political, media and cultural system in each country must be known in depth. “It cannot be assumed that anyone who knows how to run a commercial or political campaign inside Israel will understand the sensitivities that exist in Washington, Berlin, or Rome.”
Despite the hundreds of millions of shekels that have been pumped into propaganda and influence campaigns, it is difficult, according to the report, to determine actual achievements, at a time when American public opinion continues to move in the opposite direction in favor of Israel.
A recent poll conducted by the Associated Press – NORC showed a worrying picture for Israel, as about a third of Americans believe that Israel committed genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, while about half of Democrats adopt this position.
Among American public opinion generally, support for Israel is steadily declining, especially among young people.
The poll showed that 58% of Democrats believe that the United States provides excessive support for Israel, compared to only 45% at the beginning of 2024.
At the same time, 62% of Democrats believe that the United States does not provide sufficient support to the Palestinians, while young Republicans also show a partial shift away from traditional pro-Israel positions.
The most worrying fact for Israel is the decline even among American Jews.
About 30% of American Jews surveyed responded that they believe that Israel committed genocide, while the overwhelming majority of them adopt a negative position towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In other words, hundreds of millions of shekels were spent on influence operations, campaigns, influencers, and public relations companies, but Israel’s standing within the United States did not improve, but rather continued to deteriorate according to most indicators.
The TIME expose and Vance’s public attack raised a broader question: whether Israel spent huge sums on an effort that not only failed but also damaged its relations with the political actors it tried to court.
Critics of the current policy believe that the issue is no longer just a matter of wasting public money, but rather represents a warning against an approach that assumes the possibility of bypassing traditional diplomacy, marginalizing the professional level, and replacing years of political work with costly digital influence campaigns.
A former senior official in the Israeli propaganda system said: “What is most absurd and disturbing is that anyone here believes that a short influence campaign, lasting a few weeks or months, can fundamentally change public opinion, and remain secret without being detected.”
He added: “This is complete foolishness and very harmful, and look at Vance’s statements. It is a scandal as terrible as the Pollard case. Revealing Israeli subversive activity against the administration opens the door to all conspiracy theories. Who in this administration, or the next administration, or the next, will trust the Israeli government at all, even if the prime minister changes?
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by saying that “the allegations contained in the report are completely baseless, and reveal a complete lack of understanding of the way the Ministry of Foreign Affairs works, especially since the establishment of the public diplomacy system at the end of 2025.”
She added: “Completely contrary to what was reported, the head of the system developed the work plan and advertising budget for the year 2026, coordinated them with the relevant professional authorities in the ministry, and the Director General duly approved them.”
The ministry continued: “The State of Israel does not carry out influence operations inside the United States. Everyone who actually deals with this file knows that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is very careful to implement the provisions of American law, which requires registration and full transparency regarding any activity carried out by a government entity.”
She stressed that “the matter also applies to contracts with the entity mentioned in your inquiry,” adding: “We stress in a way that cannot be interpreted that this activity does not address American foreign policy or the internal affairs of the United States, and that its only goal is to strengthen the strategic alliance and relations between the two countries, and to confront the wave of hatred against Jews and Israel.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded by saying that “the propaganda and public diplomacy efforts led by the Ministry are what provided Israel with the margin of international action required to defend the state throughout the war in an unprecedented manner, and that focusing efforts led to important strategic achievements for the target groups.”
But between the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s denials, Vance’s accusations, and the results of opinion polls, the paradox remains clear: the higher the influence balances, the greater the doubts and the decline in Israel’s image among the public that money was spent to win over.
