Israel is risking a staggering sum\u2014nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars\u2014in an attempt to navigate its way out of the most serious image crisis in its history. The 2026 national budget approved by the Jerusalem parliament allocates approximately $730 million for diplomatic and PR purposes \u2014an area known in Hebrew simply as hasbara\u2014which is nearly five times the previous year\u2019s $150 million. This amount alone was already twenty times what Israel spent on such purposes before the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.<\/p>\n
According to opinion polls and communications experts, however, this massive budget revision is a \u201ekiss of death,\u201d as international perceptions have already reached the point of no return due to government decisions and the military realities on the ground.<\/p>\n
Behind this unprecedented, military-scale PR spending lies the pressure caused by a dramatic drop in support for Israel among its closest ally, the United States. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, 60% of Americans view Israel negatively, and traditional bipartisan support is a thing of the past: 57% of Republicans under the age of 50 also hold an unfavorable view of the country.<\/p>\n
This political shift is also reflected in U.S. legislation: recently, 40 Democratic senators voted against the sale of caterpillar-tracked bulldozers to Israel, and 36 voted against the sale of 1,000-pound bombs, marking the strongest congressional rebuke in the history of U.S. military aid.<\/p>\n
Leaked data on budget allocations reveal where the millions of dollars are going:<\/p>\n
Announcements and delegations:<\/b> They spent $50 million on international social media ads (Google, YouTube, X), and used an additional $40 million to bring some 400 foreign delegations (influential opinion leaders, university presidents, clergy) to Israel.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The Trump Line and AI:<\/b> The State Department has signed a $1.5 million monthly contract with the company run by Brad Parscale, Donald Trump\u2019s former campaign strategist, to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) tools to monitor and shape online narratives.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Paid networks:<\/b> They spent $4.1 million on targeted campaigns by evangelical Christian churches and launched the \u201eEsther Project\u201d (Esther Project), which operates a network of paid influencers through a PR firm for $900,000.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n According to Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, the situation is a matter of survival, and we must invest in the \u201ewar for hearts and minds\u201d just as much as we do in fighter jets, bombs, or missile defense systems.<\/p>\n PR professionals and diplomatic researchers are unanimously skeptical about the effectiveness of the $730 million package. Nicholas Cull, a professor at the University of Southern California (USC), pointed out: \u201eHistory shows that all the money in the world is of no help if the policies are wrong. The U.S. learned this lesson in Vietnam, when its Cold War public diplomacy budget was at its peak.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Shibley Telhami, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, drew another historical parallel, recalling the year 2005, when Washington spent vast sums of money to repair the damage to its image in the Muslim world caused by the Iraq War. The conclusion of the committee at the time was simple: \u201eIt\u2019s politics that\u2019s to blame\u2014it\u2019s stupid!\u201d<\/i> According to Telhami, a new \u201eGaza generation\u201d has grown up in the U.S., and marketing is no longer effective with them because of their moral rejection of government decisions.<\/p>\n Ilan Manor, a senior researcher at Ben-Gurion University, pointed out that Israel has one of the most advanced digital diplomacy infrastructures in the world, which was already reaching one billion people even before the war. \u201eThe problem isn\u2019t a lack of infrastructure or skills. The problem is that people no longer trust the government. If you aren\u2019t a credible spokesperson, it doesn\u2019t matter how viral your message becomes.\u201d<\/i> \u2013 explains Manor, referring to the \u201ecredibility gap\u201d that emerged during the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the campaign has backfired: ever since the paid influencer contracts and AI-driven bot campaigns were made public, the American public has automatically dismissed pro-Israel posts on social media as the work of paid foreign agents.<\/p>\n According to Eytan Gilboa, a professor at Bar-Ilan University, Israel\u2019s image is facing its most serious crisis ever. \u201eIn the past, Israeli policy was criticized. Today, Israel\u2019s right to exist is being rejected. We have lost an entire American generation\u2014the politicians and journalists of the future. I am very pessimistic.\u201d<\/i> \u2013 the expert concluded.<\/p>\n Source: The Times of Israel \/ Antipropaganda, based on JTA<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Izrael elk\u00e9peszt\u0151 \u00f6sszeget, k\u00f6zel h\u00e1romnegyedmilli\u00e1rd doll\u00e1rt kock\u00e1ztat arra, hogy megpr\u00f3b\u00e1lja kikommunik\u00e1lni mag\u00e1t t\u00f6rt\u00e9nete legs\u00falyosabb im\u00e1zsv\u00e1ls\u00e1g\u00e1b\u00f3l. A jeruzs\u00e1lemi parlament \u00e1ltal elfogadott 2026-os nemzeti k\u00f6lts\u00e9gvet\u00e9s mintegy 730 milli\u00f3 doll\u00e1rt k\u00fcl\u00f6n\u00edt el diplom\u00e1ciai \u00e9s PR-c\u00e9lokra \u2013 a h\u00e9ber\u00fcl csak hasbarak\u00e9nt ismert ter\u00fcletre \u2013, ami csaknem \u00f6tsz\u00f6r\u00f6se az el\u0151z\u0151 \u00e9vi 150 milli\u00f3 doll\u00e1rnak. Ez az \u00f6sszeg m\u00e1r mag\u00e1ban is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,2,19],"tags":[158,96,153,155,154,156],"class_list":["post-2273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hasbara-megdonese","category-featured","category-news","tag-gazdasag","tag-izrael","tag-kozel-kelet","tag-mediaelemzes","tag-nemzetkozi-kapcsolatok","tag-vilagpolitika"],"modified_by":"Antipropaganda H\u00edrblog","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The experts\u201e verdict: \u201dIt\u2019s politics that\u2019s to blame\u2014it\u2019s foolish!\u201d<\/h3>\n
Credibility Gap<\/h3>\n