© The GrayzoneA sample of Israeli hasbara training
With the ranks of its foreign sympathizers plummeting all around the world and all across the political spectrum, the State of Israel is quadrupling its budget for so-called "public diplomacy," bringing its 2026 spending on foreign influence campaigns to a massive $730 million.
With the country's growing unpopularity threatening US financial, military and diplomatic support, Israel's foreign minister has said an intensified effort to mold global opinion is an "existential issue." Both inside and outside of Israel, the country's public diplomacy effort is also referred to by its Hebrew name: hasbara. Even before the 2026 ramp-up in spending, Israel's spending on hasbara was already striking.
Recent disclosures about 2025 hasbara spending shed some light on how Israel goes about shaping public opinion. Per the Jerusalem Post, that year's outlays included a $50 million social media ad campaign carried out on Google, YouTube, X and Outbrain. Another $40 million covered the hosting of foreign delegations. "We flew a lot of delegations to the country - whether it's pastors, whether it's politicians, universities," Israeli Consul General Israel Bachar told the Jerusalem Post. "Everyone who returns from the country understands better and is more supportive. But you have to fly out a lot of people."
"We must as a country invest much, much more," Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar argued in December. "It should be like investing in jets, bombs and missile interceptors. In the face of what's arrayed against us and what's invested against us, it's far from enough. This is an existential issue."
An April Pew Research survey found that 60% of American adults now view Israel unfavorably -- that's up 18 points from 2022. Underscoring the mammoth challenge faced by Israel's hasbarists, the proportion of Americans who have a very unfavorable view of Israel now stands at 28% -- triple what it was in 2022. Most alarming for Israel is the cratering of support among Republicans, with 57% of those under 50 now viewing Israel unfavorably.
The erosion of US support has taken place over a span that has included Israel's stunningly-destructive rampage across Gaza in response to the Oct 7 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, and this year's US-Israeli war on Iran which has caused fuel prices to rocket higher while threatening a global economic catastrophe.
Israel's weakened position in US politics is manifesting in various ways. Candidates in Democratic primaries are now attacking opponents who've taken money from the pro-Israel lobby, which has prompted those forces to effectively "launder" their contributions through intermediary organizations. This week, 30 House Democrats co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding that the US government finally acknowledge the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal -- ending decades of bipartisan obfuscation. Votes in Congress that follow the Israel lobby's recommendations used to be enormously lopsided on Israel's side, but are now decided by just a handful of votes -- with the lobby still prevailing for now.
In October, westerners' wariness of Israeli hasbara was heightened by Responsible Statecraft's revelation that Israel was paying social-media influencers something like $7,000 per pro-Israel post that they made.
Some hasbara efforts have been carried out in a purposely deceptive fashion. For example, an undercover Al Jazeera documentary captured American Jordan Schachtel, who now publishes The Dossier on Substack, describing his involvement in a social media campaign in which Israeli propagandists ran Facebook pages that ostensibly cover topics far from geopolitics -- such as the environment or feminism -- for the sole purpose of periodically sprinkling the feed with pro-Israel content. "It's a secretive thing, because we don't want people to know that these side projects are associated with The Israel Project," Schachtel was caught saying on hidden camera.
Imagine what they'll be cooking up with three-quarters of a billion dollars.
Reader Comments
At the moment I would say that people have already made up their minds about where they stand on Judea in general and Israel specifically. How internet trolls will change things is anyone's guess.
I do thank them for the warning. I will be on guard for such trolls and 'apologists' on the net from now on.
There is simply no good to be found in who they are and what they do. It's all bad! Very bad indeed.