Posted on 07/19/2026 10:26:40 AM PDT by Mount Athos
Israel paid at least $50 million to US-based firms to help its standing with Americans, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
The report alleged that the Israeli government had retained at least six firms to help in its efforts to sway public opinion in the United States in its favor. It added that at least three dozen new people, many of them in the marketing industry, have registered as foreign agents for Israel.
This comes as 42% of American adults hold an unfavorable opinion of Israeli people, and 69% hold an unfavorable opinion of the Israeli government, a July poll from the Pew Research Center found.
The WSJ reported that Israel’s 2026 budget to improve its image and global standing was set for over $700 million.
That sum was more than 20 times what hasbara efforts have typically been allotted in past years.
Notably, the WSJ report is also the latest accusation that former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has been hired to act on behalf of Israel.
According to the report, Parscale, who is now the chief strategy officer at Salem Media, was paid over $45 million to launch a series of campaigns by Israel to help boost its standing in the US.
Salem Media is a conservative Christian media conglomerate and is known for hosting conservative pundits such as Scott Jennings, Hugh Hewitt, and Lara Trump.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
Supporting Israel has always been US policy.
The real question is how to remove Islam from the USA.
The WSJ reported that Israel’s 2026 budget to manipulate public opinion to improve
its fading image and crummy global standing is planning to spend over $700 million.
All of it US tax dollars, we can presume.
Israel has a perfect right to mind-control the US public.
You must be an antisemite. 🤡
Unlike China and lots of other countries, Israel is at least open about it!
I didn’t n’t think that Vance is tough enough to face the left. Neither is Rubio.
> This comes as 42% of American adults hold an unfavorable opinion of Israeli people, and 69% hold an unfavorable opinion of the Israeli government <
Holding an unfavorable view of a government, okay.
But holding an unfavorable view of a people?
I’d sure like to see an explanation for that.
Could it be that the relentless anti-Israel propaganda has simply spilled over?
Israel has a perfect right to mind-control the US public.
***********************
They don’t have to spend any money on Free Republic.
Many Freepers will do their messaging for free.
And when Jerusalem doesn’t attempt yo correct all the lies being spread against it (billions of dirty dollars from enemy nations Qatar Saudi and enemies within like Soroznazi’s many false front groups etc.), when Israel mostly ignored all the calumnies— it was highly criticized for not trying to correct the record.
So which is it to be —- let the enemies control and warp the discourse — rendering it basically a falsehood —- or at least try to get some truthfulness into the public square (and, alas, be blamed for that, too).
Catch 22. The enemies of America continue to seriously slant, distort, largely control our mass media (and misuse our universities like stages for their farcical “demonstrations”) —- cleverly using our “free speech” principles against us like we’re all mental retards who are so easily brainwashed — as Goebbels said, the bigger the lies the better so long as they’re repeated often enough.
It’s not Israel been attacking the US for decades, and racing towards a nuke. Wasn’t Israel funding and equipping Sunni insurgents to kill Americans in Iraq. Big case of blowback for them when Sunnis in the form of ISIS almost took the whole country.
Muslim lobbying by Saudi, Qatar and UAE are 5x total foreign and domestic lobbying for Israel. Muslims are over 100x as numerous as Jews, so spend copiously. And none of the 50+ Muslim states and 20+ Arab states is under threat from a 2b strong population of zealots looking to literally wipe them out.
Exterminating Jews has been religious duty for Muslims since Muhammad massacred 700 Jews who took him in while he was on the run, then balked when he insisted they accept him as prophet and leader. A hadith states the end of the world cannot begin until every Jew,is dead.
Because U.S. law explicitly prohibits political parties and candidates from accepting foreign contributions, foreign country spending is separate from American domestic group spending. Foreign lobbying generally covers public relations, economic trade promotion, and strategic diplomatic consulting. [1, 3, 4, 5]
Consolidated data based on recent election cycles and FARA tracking indicates the following breakdowns:
✡️ Jewish and Pro-Israel Lobbying & Contributions
Domestic spending under this category is overwhelmingly focused on maintaining the U.S.–Israel strategic alliance. Legally, groups like AIPAC do not accept foreign funds; their expenditures are powered entirely by American citizens. [3, 6, 7]
* Domestic American Contributions (2024 Election Cycle): $78,118,068
* According to OpenSecrets data for the 2024 election cycle, individuals and Political Action Committees (PACs) aligned with pro-Israel causes contributed more than $78 million to federal candidates and parties.
* This includes prominent Super PACs like the United Democracy Project (UDP), which poured tens of millions into primary races alone. [8, 9, 10]
* Domestic Federal Lobbying (Annual): ~$4.55 million
* For standard corporate/policy lobbying expenditures, AIPAC reported roughly $3.8 million, while the liberal pro-Israel group J Street reported $750,000. [7]
* Foreign Country Lobbying (Israel): $215,168,616
* Data from the OpenSecrets Foreign Lobby Watch tracks a cumulative total of approximately $215.1 million spent by Israeli state entities, defense firms, and trade associations on U.S. public relations and policy messaging under FARA. [1]
☪️ Muslim and Pro-Arab Lobbying & Contributions
Domestic Muslim-American political spending is predominantly coordinated through civic advocacy organizations focused on domestic civil rights and foreign policy. Separately, wealthy Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East represent some of the highest spending foreign principals in Washington. [11, 12, 13, 14]
* Domestic American Contributions: <$100,000 to $260,000 per cycle
* According to trackers at the Jewish Virtual Library using OpenSecrets data, organized Pro-Arab and Muslim PAC contributions (such as the Iranian American PAC or Arab American Leadership PAC) traditionally range from $100,000 to $260,000 per election cycle. [13]
* Domestic Federal Lobbying (Annual): Minimal (Unquantified exact baseline)
* Muslim civil rights organizations, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), register as civic non-profits. Because their primary mandates center on civil liberties litigation rather than direct candidate campaign bundling, their federal lobbying disclosure figures remain small relative to economic sectors. [12]
* Foreign Country Lobbying (Muslim-Majority Nations): $960,679,531
* Several Muslim-majority foreign governments outspend almost all other nations on FARA-registered agents to manage sovereign wealth investments, arms sales, and energy diplomacy. Leading spenders tracked by Foreign Lobby Watch include:
* Saudi Arabia: $421,890,448
* United Arab Emirates: $269,529,107
* Qatar: $269,260,794 [1, 4, 15]
Consolidated Dollar Totals Comparison
The financial dynamics highlight a stark contrast: Jewish-American political influence is predominantly driven by domestic citizen contributions, whereas Muslim/Arab influence in Washington is overwhelmingly driven by foreign sovereign governments using international lobbying firms. [3, 5, 15]
Spending Category
Jewish / Pro-Israel Sector
Muslim / Pro-Arab Sector
Domestic PAC & Individual Contributions
$78,118,068 (2024 Cycle)
~$100,000 – $260,000 (Per Cycle)
Domestic Federal Lobbying
$4,550,000 (Annual)
Minimal (No high-volume PACs)
Foreign Government Lobbying (FARA)
$215,168,616 (Israel total)
$960,679,531 (Saudi, UAE, Qatar combined)
TOTAL ESTIMATED SECTOR SECTOR SPENDING
$297,836,684
$960,939,531
[1] https://www.opensecrets.org
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
[4] https://www.opensecrets.org
[6] https://www.opensecrets.org
[8] https://www.opensecrets.org
[9] https://www.opensecrets.org
[11] https://www.opensecrets.org
[12] https://www.cair.com
[13] https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org
[15] https://www.denvergazette.com
50 million dollars is chump change. You might be able to run a couple of ads in the stream of Tai Chi workouts and pink salt cures for diabetes.
Israel has allocated some $730 million (that we know of) for “public diplomacy and image-building” in its 2026 national budget, b/c large amounts of money buy anything....... even a good image.
This $730 million funding is a dramatic increase from the $150 million
spent in 2025 b/c it is intended to counter worsening global anti-Israel views.
Specifics of the campaign include extensive US operations since
Israel and its military are totally dependent on US tax dollars.
$50 million is dedicated to maneuvering American opinion through
<><>AI-driven text campaigns,
<><>conservative media advertising,
<><>and shaping search engine and chatbots.
The $730 million budget funds
<><>social media initiatives,
<><>trips to Israel to exploit influencers and politicians,
<><>and inventing favorable digital content.
Israel is utilizing private US firms:
<><>$45 million to Trump’s ex-campaign manager
<><>Brad Parscale’s company is Clock Tower X LLC.
<><>another $45 million to Christian-centered organizations.
<><>expenditures to manipulate other US companies are not delineated.
Not bothered by this. Israel must spend to counteract Muslim
and leftist lies, and its expenditures are most certainly DWARFED by what is spent by its enemies. Its enemies include the entire establishment news media, college faculty bankrolled by Muslim oil, and leftist billionaires with tons of dark money.
My FRiend, I doubt it is being done with US tax dollars.
We have financed large amounts of military equipment, but there have been improvements coming out of Israel on a number of the weapons.
Israel’s military exports are at it’s highest in the Middle East.
...said no reasonable person ever.
My, you’re really good at propaganda. A “true believer.”
And how do you want to handle the down payment
on your bridge over the Atlantic in Arizona?
“Supporting Israel has always been US policy.
“The real question is how to remove Islam from the USA.”
There should be a total ban on bringing more “practitioners of the religion of peace” into the U.S. And I am in favor of removing those already here (including denaturalization proceedings of those who are citizens), if there is any way to get it upheld in the court system.
I am also against giving any more money (either cash or free weaponry) to Israel. It is not fair to American taxpayers and it’s not like we’re running a budget surplus.
“This comes as 42% of American adults hold an unfavorable opinion of Israeli people, and 69% hold an unfavorable opinion of the Israeli government, a July poll from the Pew Research Center found.”
************************
I’d worry more about that first figure than the second.
You are good at being ignorant. The US aid to Israel is not “cash”. The US creates a fund to buy US military equipment, and a smaller amount (~15%) is a joint to fund develop, build, and share missile defense tech.
So 85% of the money never leaves the US, it goes from DC to US defense companies, and US defense companies send hardware to Israel. 15% is shared investment in missile defense, where Israel sends technology and equipment to the US (Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 missiles, for example).
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