Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly acknowledged that his government is paying U.S. social media influencers up to $7,372 per post in an aggressive digital campaign to sway American public opinion in favor of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The revelation, based on recent Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings and reporting by Responsible Statecraft, has sparked fresh scrutiny over foreign influence in U.S. media and political discourse.

Speaking at a closed-door meeting with American influencers at the Israeli Consulate General in New York, Netanyahu defended the strategy in stark terms. “We have to fight back. How do we fight back? Our influencers,” he said in recorded footage. “We cannot fight with swords anymore, that doesn’t work very well. We have to fight with weapons that apply to the battlefields in which we’re engaged in, and the most important ones are on social media.”

Netanyahu’s remarks underscore what many critics have long suspected: Israel sees social media as a critical front in its ongoing public relations war over its Gaza campaign and broader Palestinian policy.

The payments are part of a larger digital influence operation code-named the “Esther Project,” which runs from June to November 2025. The campaign is managed by Bridge Partners LLC, a Washington D.C.-based firm contracted by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The company bills Israel through Havas Media Group Germany, creating an added layer of operational opacity.

According to Responsible Statecraft, of the $900,000 allocated to the effort, approximately $552,946 has been used for direct payments to influencers between June and September 2025. With 75 to 90 posts made during this period, influencers are being paid between $6,143 and $7,372 per post on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

The “Esther Project” bears a curious resemblance in name to the Heritage Foundation’s “Project Esther,” launched in late 2024, which focuses on dismantling pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S. by labeling Israel critics as “terrorist sympathizers.” While no formal connection has been confirmed, the overlap raises concerns about coordination between political, ideological, and state actors.

Bridge Partners, whose co-founders Yair Levi and Uri Steinberg each hold a 50% stake, describes its mission as promoting “cultural interchange” between the U.S. and Israel. The firm has enlisted former Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Nadav Shtrauchler and the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, which previously represented the controversial Israeli spyware firm NSO Group.

The influencer campaign is just one element of Israel’s vastly expanded digital propaganda program—often referred to as hasbara. According to Jewish Insider, Israel’s public diplomacy budget has ballooned to $150 million in 2025, over 20 times what it was before the Gaza war escalated in October 2023.

This follows a series of exposed influence operations by the Israeli government, including a $2 million Ministry of Diaspora Affairs effort in 2024 that created hundreds of fake social media accounts targeting U.S. lawmakers—especially Black Democrats—to encourage continued American military aid to Israel, according to The New York Times.

Notably, the Esther Project coincides with the U.S. government’s controversial move to transfer ownership of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a consortium led by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Netanyahu ally and major donor to Israel’s military apparatus. The timing raises additional questions about whether access to U.S. digital platforms is being used to further Israeli strategic interests.

While Israel continues to rely heavily on American military and diplomatic support, the revelation that it is actively funding covert influence operations on U.S. soil—particularly through social media influencers—raises serious questions about transparency, ethics, and foreign interference in the digital age.