Israel has launched a sweeping multimillion-dollar campaign to rehabilitate its image in the United States, combining artificial intelligence, religious targeting and immersive propaganda, according to an investigation by Haaretz.
The report says the Israeli government has signed multiple contracts through its Foreign and Tourism ministries and the Government Advertising Agency (LAPAM) to reshape US public opinion after its genocidal war on Gaza.
Payments were routed through Havas Media Germany, a subsidiary of the global advertising giant Havas, which acts as intermediary for foreign-agent filings in Washington.
Among the most striking contracts is a $6 million deal with Clock Tower X, owned by Brad Parscale, Donald Trump’s former campaign strategist.
The four-month agreement calls for "strategic consulting, planning and communications services" to produce thousands of online materials aimed at combating antisemitism and restoring Israel’s reputation.
It also includes a "Search and Language Operation" designed to influence not only search results but also the framing of issues in generative AI systems such as ChatGPT and Claude - what Haaretz describes as the first known attempt by a state to manipulate chatbot outputs.
A separate $3 million campaign by Show Faith by Works, run by Republican consultant Chad Schnitger, targets conservative churches and Christian colleges across western states.
The plan, described as "the largest geofencing campaign in US history", proposes mapping the perimeters of churches in California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado during worship hours, identifying attendees through commercial data, and targeting them with pro-Israel ads.
Messages lean on "biblically based arguments" portraying Palestinians as allies of Hamas and enemies of Christianity. The projected reach is eight million worshippers and four million Christian students.
This unprecedented surveillance-style marketing comes as Israel faces collapsing support among Evangelicals and US conservatives, once considered its most loyal allies. Pew and Tel Aviv University data cited in the report show that half of young Republicans now view Israel negatively - a 15-point jump since the Gaza war began.
Another contract, worth around $2.5 million, was signed with SKDKnickerbocker to develop a "bot-based program" that floods TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube with messages from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
A $1 million "Project Esther", run by Washington firm Bridges Partners, recruits social-media influencers to promote Israel, paying each to post dozens of times a month. Draft proposals listed possible celebrity backers, including Guardians of the Galaxy actor Chris Pratt, Jon Voight, Tim Tebow and NBA star Stephen Curry.
One of the most theatrical elements is a planned touring installation called 'The October 7 Experience', designed by "Hollywood set builders".
Using immersive virtual-reality screens, visitors would "experience the horrors of the Hamas attack and the Nova music-festival massacre". The exhibit is intended to travel across major American cities, merging grief, spectacle and political messaging.
Critics say these projects reflect a new phase of state propaganda that fuses emotional manipulation with algorithmic persuasion. They note that what began as traditional hasbara - public diplomacy - has evolved into a sprawling influence architecture spanning bots, influencers, and AI-generated discourse.
Internal documents obtained by Haaretz reveal that AI is now considered a "core tool" in the technological arsenal of 'Voices for Israel', a government-backed non-profit operated by the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs.
The initiative’s earlier 'Project Max' proposed a "Technological War Room" equipped with AI, big data and "distribution and disruption capabilities" to conduct mass "perception operations".
In its response to Haaretz, the Foreign Ministry denied paying influencers or running geofencing operations, calling the reporting "an organised and false disinformation campaign aimed at undermining the legitimacy and right of the State of Israel to exist".
It said its activities focus on "physical and digital exhibitions presenting the atrocities of October 7 and countering disinformation".
Yet to observers, the scale and sophistication of these operations mark a watershed.
What once relied on lobbying and sympathetic media now extends to manipulating algorithms, mining faith-based data and turning trauma into what critics say is a grotesque immersive spectacle.