Israel’s $145M effort to influence Gen Z in the U.S

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday that Israel’s Foreign Ministry has begun one of its largest-ever PR operations in the United States, with a budget of around $145 million.

While branded as a “public diplomacy” effort, the campaign’s real goal is to influence how the younger generation views Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.

The initiative specifically targets Generation Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — who dominate digital spaces. To execute this plan, Israel’s Foreign Ministry is working with several U.S.-based marketing firms, with over 80% of the campaign content to be distributed through platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and podcasts.

According to documents filed with the U.S. Department of Justice, Israel has contracted with Clock Tower, a firm led by Brad Parscale, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager. The collaboration aims to flood social media with appealing, emotionally resonant content designed to polish Israel’s image among American youth.

One of the most controversial parts of the campaign involves influencing artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israeli-linked firms plan to strategically generate and circulate online content to shape the datasets used to train AI models — with the aim of making future AI-generated responses about Israel more sympathetic to Tel Aviv’s narrative.

Experts have dubbed this strategy “Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)”, likening it to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) — but instead of search engines, the goal is to manipulate machine-learning algorithms.

In parallel, the Israeli cabinet has also rolled out a program called “Project Esther,” which provides financial backing to prominent American influencers.

Documents show that in its first phase, five to six influencers will be hired to post 25–30 pro-Israel messages per month, in exchange for substantial payments.

The campaign’s peak came last summer when Benjamin Netanyahu met with a group of influencers at Israel’s consulate in New York. Netanyahu called social media the “eighth front of the war”, declaring:

“Today, the most important weapon is the digital battlefield. We must win this war — even by working with figures like Elon Musk.”

Analysts say the surge in Israel’s PR spending and its focus on Gen Z reflects growing panic in Tel Aviv over its declining moral legitimacy in the West.

A Gallup poll found that only 9% of Americans aged 18–34 support Israel’s actions in Gaza. Meanwhile, another survey commissioned by Israel’s own Foreign Ministry revealed that half of Americans now describe Israel’s conduct as ‘genocide.’

In effect, Tel Aviv has opened a new front — a war for minds and narratives — where the battlefield is not in Gaza, but across social media feeds and the neural memory of AI systems.