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Israel is betting nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars that it can talk its way out of a reputation crisis.
But as public opinion continues to shift in the U.S. and around the world, the question isn’t whether Israel needs a better public relations strategy. It’s whether any amount of messaging can overcome the realities that are driving that reputational decline in the first place.
A new investigation by Drop Site News reveals that Israel is now paying millions of dollars not just to influence voters, but to influence artificial intelligence itself.
According to the report, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is overseeing a $46.5 million contract to create hundreds of websites designed specifically to shape how AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity answer questions about Gaza and Israel. The sites, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, present carefully curated pro-Israel narratives in formats optimized for AI training data and chatbot retrieval. We heard JD vance on Joe Rogan recently talk about how many influencers are paid by Parscale, here’s a refresher:
“There are certain influencers in America that are being paid in order to attack the deal,” he said. “You have seen this very discreet, extremely well funded pain to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal. There was this TIME article that came out worth reading because it lists a bunch of people who have quite literally been paid by a former Trump campaign person, who has himself been paid by certain elements within the Israeli government.”
So now, in addition to paying influencers, they’re trying to shape the machines millions of people increasingly rely on for information. Got it.
The timing isn’t accidental. Israel’s global standing has deteriorated dramatically since the war in Gaza began, and nowhere is that decline more striking than in the U.S. One of the clearest examples came this month after New York mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani said New York should honor the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the city. Conservatives denounced the comments, Netanyahu accused Mamdani of “hate speech,” and critics portrayed the position as politically toxic.
Except the polling suggests otherwise. A brand new Economist-YouGov survey found Americans support arresting Netanyahu by a 22-point margin if the United States were to enforce the International Criminal Court warrant.
Forty-nine percent said the U.S. should arrest him, and 47 percent believe Netanyahu committed war crimes in Gaza. So in actuality, Mamdani articulated a position that nearly half of Americans already hold.
Those views exist because the court itself issued an arrest warrant in November 2024, finding reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu bears responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a method of warfare, impeding humanitarian aid, directing attacks against civilians, and persecution.
Meanwhile, Israel’s influence campaign extends beyond AI. Pro-Israel organizations have reportedly assembled roughly a $100 million effort to shape U.S. primary elections, often through PACs with names like “Elect Chicago Women” or “Affordable Chicago Now” that omit any reference to Israel while spending millions on preferred candidates.
Against that backdrop, Israel’s 2026 budget allocates roughly $730 million for public diplomacy, according to The Times of Israel, as it attempts to repair its image abroad. But perception isn’t changing because of a messaging problem. It’s changing because millions of people have watched years of devastating war unfold in real time.
Yesterday, as Netanyahu met with President Trump at the White House seeking additional long-term U.S. military commitments, including $16 billion in direct U.S. military aid, an additional $5 billion to 10 billion in support for Israel’s development of missile defense systems and the creation of a $16 billion dollar joint fund for research and development of new weapons systems, the diplomatic and political challenges facing Israel appeared larger than ever.
Perhaps instead of spending nearly a billion dollars trying to convince the world it is misunderstood, Israel should spend more time asking why so much of the world has changed its mind.
Today, more than 140 countries back a U.N. declaration supporting a negotiated two-state solution, and well over 150 U.N. member states recognize Palestinian statehood. As Israel heads toward pivotal elections in October, with polls showing Netanyahu facing significant political headwinds, no amount of AI optimization or public relations spending can substitute for policies that restore international confidence. In the end, credibility is earned by actions, not algorithms.
Lindsey Granger is a News Nation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.
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