{"id":316151,"date":"2025-10-02T06:20:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T06:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=316151"},"modified":"2025-10-04T05:49:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T05:49:36","slug":"israel-paying-us-social-media-influencers-7000-per-post-as-right-wing-support-craters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=316151","title":{"rendered":"Israel Paying US Social Media Influencers $7,000 Per Post As Right-Wing Support Craters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Tyler Durden \u2013 Zero Hedge Oct 1, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/netanyah-tiktok-purchase-part-of-propaganda-war.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt aligncenter size-full wp-image-315940\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/netanyah-tiktok-purchase-part-of-propaganda-war.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"374\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/netanyah-tiktok-purchase-part-of-propaganda-war.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/netanyah-tiktok-purchase-part-of-propaganda-war-480x281.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 640px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#8217;s meeting in New York on Friday with a group of pro-Israel influencers, we learn that<strong>\u00a0Israel is likely paying them a whopping $7,000 per pro-Israel social-media post in a desperate drive to bolster plummeting support of Israel among America&#8217;s young conservatives.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the conclusion of <a href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/israel-influencers-netanyahu\/\"><em>Responsible Statecraft&#8217;s<\/em><\/a> Nick Cleveland-Stout, based on analysis of <a href=\"https:\/\/efile.fara.gov\/docs\/7652-Exhibit-AB-20250926-1.pdf\">a disclosure<\/a> filed with the US Department of Justice as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). While pro-Israel lobbying heavyweight AIPAC is notoriously exempt from FARA registration, the social media operation comes under the transparency law&#8217;s provisions because <strong>Israel&#8217;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is paying for it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The best &#8216;conservative&#8217; influencers Israel can buy?<\/p>\n<p>Emily Austin participated in the Epstein binders hoax, and joined Netanyahu&#8217;s recent influencers meeting<\/p>\n<p>Xavaier DuRousseau attended the secret Hamptons influencer summit with Bill Ackman, then junketed off to Israel <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JLoGk3Jzfd\">pic.twitter.com\/JLoGk3Jzfd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MaxBlumenthal\/status\/1972100866804273237?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The influence campaign is being facilitated by Bridge Partners, a DC-based firm owned by founders Yair Levi and Uri Steinberg. &#8220;[Bridge Partners] has <strong>also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nadav-shtrauchler\/\">enlisted<\/a>\u00a0the help of a former major in the IDF spokesperson unit, Nadav Shtrauchler,&#8221;<\/strong> writes Cleveland-Stout. &#8220;For legal counsel, Levi and Steinberg have turned to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a firm that previously\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/efile.fara.gov\/docs\/5198-Exhibit-AB-20210630-57.pdf\">worked for<\/a>\u00a0controversial Israeli spyware company NSO Group.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The current phase of the campaign runs from June to November, with\u00a0<strong>a $900,000 budget for a stable of 14 to 17 influencers<\/strong> turning out pro-Israel content. Taking into account disclosed administrative costs and the campaign&#8217;s expectation that the group will produce 75-90 posts, <em>Responsible Statecraft<\/em> estimates <strong>each post will earn the influencers somewhere between $6,143 and $7,373<\/strong>. The individual\u00a0influencers are not identified in the filings. However, given they are being paid by a foreign government to engage in political activity, <strong>the influencers seemingly have a duty to register as individual agents of the State of Israel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu candid public statements to influencers last week raised eyebrows, as they laid bare Israel&#8217;s drive to control social media discourse in the United States in a bid to shore up American support. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to have to use the tools of battle,&#8221; said Netanyahu. <strong>&#8220;Weapons change over time&#8230;the most important ones are in social media. And the most important purchase that is going on right now is&#8230;TikTok.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">NEW &#8211; Netanyahu mission-briefed American influencers today, stating TikTok is the &#8220;most important&#8221; weapon in securing Israel&#8217;s right-wing support: &#8220;Weapons change over time&#8230; the most important ones are the social media,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The most important purchase that is going on\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EeszHlcZmN\">pic.twitter.com\/EeszHlcZmN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/disclosetv\/status\/1971757331928023134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>After pro-Palestinian content in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/news\/us-tiktok-ban-linked-israel-china-insiders-reveal\">catalyzed a long-simmering deep state drive to ban TikTok<\/a>, the ban is being averted via TikTok&#8217;s transfer of an 80% stake to Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz. <strong>The new owners include significant backers of Israel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Oracle&#8217;s Larry Ellison, the world&#8217;s second-richest man, has said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/hollywood-gala-raises-a-record-33-million-for-idf\/\">&#8220;there is no greater honor than supporting&#8221; the Israel Defense Forces<\/a>, which he called &#8220;some of the bravest people in the world.&#8221; In August, Ellison&#8217;s son David acquired CBS and is reportedly planning to install diehard Israel defender <a href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/bari-weiss-free-press-cbs\/\">Bari Weiss over CBS News<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Andreessen Horowitz has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calcalistech.com\/ctechnews\/article\/oif0bk8uu\">significant investments<\/a> in the Israeli tech industry, where Ben Horowitz has worked to recruit from the ranks of elite Israeli military units. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/david-horowitz-radical-american-leftist-turned-right-wing-firebrand-dies-at-86\/\">His father, David Horowitz, was a zealous supporter<\/a> of Israel known for condemning pro-Palestinian activists as &#8220;Jew-haters&#8221; and allies of terrorists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">For the first time since the New York Times tested this question 26 years ago, Americans sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gdvNDypnKT\">pic.twitter.com\/gdvNDypnKT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prem_thakker\/status\/1973033925393146169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Israeli social media push comes amid cratering support for Israel among Americans. The deterioration is strongest among Republicans who have long represented the cornerstone of Israel&#8217;s backing in the United States. That trend is even more pronounced among younger Republicans: An August <em>Responsible Statecraft<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/poll-americans-israel\/\">poll<\/a> found that <strong>just 24% of Republicans under age 35 sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the FARA disclosures, <strong>Israel refers to the paid-influencer campaign as the &#8220;Esther Project.&#8221;<\/strong> That name closely resembles &#8220;Project Esther,&#8221; the Heritage Foundation proposal for the US government and pro-Israel groups to destroy the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/18\/us\/project-esther-heritage-foundation-palestine.html\">declaring activists to be members of a &#8220;terrorist support network.&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0and using that as the pretext for deportations, lawsuits, job terminations, school expulsions and exclusion from &#8220;open society.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After taking office, Secretary of State Marco Rubio quickly embraced the sinister tactic, using it to arrest and jail international students who&#8217;d engaged in pro-Palestinian activism. In the most infamous case, <a href=\"https:\/\/starkrealities.substack.com\/p\/israel-first-rubio-victimizes-student-op-ed\">Rubio had federal agents chain and shackle a mild-mannered, female Tufts University child development student<\/a>\u00a0and lock her away in a crowded detention center in Louisiana pending deportation &#8212; all for merely writing a calm and measured op-ed in the student newspaper advocating the school&#8217;s divestment from Israel. In a blistering opinion issued Tuesday, <strong>a Reagan-appointed federal judge declared that such arrests and deportations violate the First Amendment<\/strong> and represent an &#8220;abuse&#8221; of power: &#8220;It is hard to imagine a policy more focused on intimidating its targets from practicing protected political speech.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While that ruling is a victory for open discourse, <em>there&#8217;s no such recourse for a TikTok algorithm that&#8217;s moving into the hands of Israel advocates.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/israel-paying-us-social-media-influencers-7000-post-right-wing-support-craters\">Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US public support for Israel is collapsing. This is not something the mainstream media can arrest, as the MSM is also viewed with growing cynicism. So as a last resort, social media influencers are being paid for pro-Israeli posts but nothing can conceal the air of desperation that now attends Zionist propaganda      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[118,42,37,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-316151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10-gaza-war","category-controlling-the-news-andor-the-free-exchange-of-ideas-and-information","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies","category-The_Media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=316151"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316181,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316151\/revisions\/316181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=316151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=316151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=316151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}