An American investigative report revealed that the Israeli government funds a propaganda campaign through social media influencers, each receiving about $7,000 per post promoting the Israeli narrative.

According to the report published in the American magazine Responsible Statecraft, the Israeli Foreign Ministry funded a $900,000 contract via Bridges Partners with the German Havas Media Group to operate between 14 and 18 influencers from June to November 2024.

The document submitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act allocates funding for both “influencer payments” and “production costs,” estimating the value of each post between $6,100 and $7,300 after deducting production and management costs.

WikiLeaks published documents this week confirming that about half of the contract’s value was allocated to recruiting and training American influencers to produce pro-Israel content, coordinating directly with Israeli partners to craft promotional messages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the existence of what he called the “influencer community” during a meeting with American activists last week, emphasizing their important role in supporting the Israeli narrative, saying, “We have to respond, how do we respond? Through our influencers. They are very important.”

The documents did not reveal the identities of the participating influencers, while Havas declined to comment on program details or payment amounts.

Bridges Partners describes itself as seeking to “enhance cultural exchange between the United States and Israel” and operates from Washington with the help of a former Israeli army spokesperson officer.

The campaign, named “Project Esther,” sparked controversy due to its similarity to an initiative of the same name launched by the American Heritage Foundation to combat anti-Semitism, but the foundation denied any connection between the two projects.

This campaign is part of a significant expansion of Israel’s foreign influence budget, as Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar obtained approval in late 2024 to increase this budget twentyfold to reach $150 million.

Among other initiatives, Israel pays about $1.5 million monthly to American digital consultant Brad Parscale, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, to manage strategic communications relying on artificial intelligence to produce thousands of variable promotional messages.

Tel Aviv faces a sharp decline in popularity due to its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 66,000 Palestinians and injuries to more than 169,000 others, mostly children and women, amid massive infrastructure destruction and catastrophic famine.