NEWS DESK- THE CRADLE
Israeli officials describe social media as the ‘eighth front’ in their war to destroy Gaza and reshape West Asia
Israel is paying US social media influencers thousands of dollars per post to improve its image amid Tel Aviv’s efforts to destroy Gaza and starve its population, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reported on 2 October.
Citing a document filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the institute wrote that, “influencers are likely being paid around $7,000 per post on social media such as TikTok and Instagram on behalf of Israel.”
The document showed payment invoices submitted by the public relations firm Bridges Partners to conduct a campaign known as the Esther Project. The invoices were submitted to Havas Media Group Germany – an international media group working for Israel.
The Esther Project is part of a broader effort to shape the public option that Israeli officials describe as the “eighth front” in its war against Gaza and neighboring states, including Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.
The invoices documented a sum of $900,000 to be used for “payments for influencers and production,” between June and November this year.
The document stated that payments were to be made to a group of 14–18 influencers to create content.
After subtracting administrative costs, an estimated $552,946 remained to pay the influencers between June and September of this year.
Bridges Partners expected the influencers to produce 75–90 posts in that time, meaning they were paid between $6,143 and $7,372 for each post.
The document did not detail which influencers are participating in the program, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting last week gathering a number of young US influencers.
Netanyahu meets with US Influencers (most likely on Israel’s payroll) to discuss how they can brainwash evangelicals back to supporting Israel
He explains the most important war for Israel is on social media & their 2 top targets are:
1. TikTok
2. X
WATCH & see if you can ID… https://t.co/o9LZNpKOxo pic.twitter.com/mjBbRNyBUb— GenXGirl (@GenXGirl1994) September 27, 2025
Bridges Partners describes its work as assisting with “promoting cultural interchange between the United States and Israel.” The firm was founded by Israeli consultants Yair Levi and Uri Steinberg in June 2025 in the US state of Delaware.
The Washington DC-based firm has employed Nadav Shtrauchler, a former major in the Israeli Army’s spokesperson unit, as well as Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a law firm that previously worked for the Israeli spyware company NSO Group.
Soon after its founding, Bridges Partners received “nearly $200,000 to recruit and coordinate US-based social media influencers,” the Times of Israel notes.
In a separate but related deal, the Israeli daily reports that Tel Aviv’s government agreed to pay $1.5 million per month to Brad Parscale, a former campaign strategist for US President Donald Trump. Parscale, who registered his firm Clock Tower X LLC as a foreign agent for Israel, is being paid for “strategic communications” to combat anti-Semitism in the US.
The German firm Havas is also serving as intermediary between Israel and Parscale, whose firm plans to conduct SEO campaigns using the MarketBrew AI platform and efforts to shape outputs of GPT-based chatbots.
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