Report: Israeli-financed online campaign seeks to improve nation’s image to American right

Haaretz reports on Israeli efforts to improve the nation’s eroding image to the American right, allegedly paying millions of dollars to various public relations firms to create online campaigns.

It focuses specifically on various websites recently set up to push the importance of shared Judeo-Christian values and support the Israeli government’s nationalist agenda. The sites present themselves as “research” and “education” platforms dedicated to advancing Israeli-American ties. The report says the sites support the expansion of West Bank settlements, disparage the Palestinian Authority and push other talking points of the current, hard-right Israeli government.

A paper published by one such website, Culturavia.org, is titled, “Why Palestinianism Conflicts With Christian Moral Teaching.” Another, on the website Innovascope.org, is headlined “Israeli Defense Firms Help Keep US Soldiers Safe With Precision Drone Technology.” Yet another, on  Cognitura.org, is titled “The Political Invention of a Palestinian Entity.”

The websites are all structured similarly, and, according to Haaretz, appear built to maximize influence on AI chatbots as they scan web resources to provide answers to users’ questions.

Haaretz identifies Brad Parscale’s PR firm Clock Tower X as being behind the campaign. It says the company and the Israeli Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.