Israel's Influence Operation Targets American Christians, ChatGPT, Amid Growing Anti-Israel Sentiment

Israel has reportedly launched a multimillion-dollar influence operation targeting American evangelical Christians and attempting to shape discourse on artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT and Claude, according to recent investigations by Israeli news outlet Haaretz and others.

The campaign, which includes geofencing churches, deploying bots, and influencing AI responses, is part of a broader effort to counter declining support among U.S. conservatives and evangelicals following the war in Gaza.

A $3 million campaign, proposed by Show Faith by Works (owned by Republican consultant Chad Schnitger), aims to counter declining support for Israel among evangelical Christians through "biblically based arguments" that portray Palestinians as allies of Hamas and enemies of Christianity.

This campaign includes a "geofencing operation" targeting the physical perimeters of churches and Christian colleges in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado during worship hours, with the goal of identifying attendees and delivering pro-Israel ads—estimated to reach eight million churchgoers and four million Christian students. This is described as the "largest geofencing campaign in U.S. history."

A $6 million contract with Clock Tower X, owned by former Trump campaign strategist Brad Parscale, includes a "Search and Language Operation" designed to influence not only traditional search engine results but also the conversational outputs of generative AI systems like ChatGPT and Claude.

Other components of the campaign include a $2.5 million bot-based program by SKDKnickerbocker to flood social media platforms with pro-Israel messages , a $1 million "Project Esther" that recruits influencers such as Chris Pratt, Jon Voight, Tim Tebow, and Stephen Curry to post content on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X , and a $4.1 million VR "October 7 Experience" project designed to simulate the Hamas attack and the Nova music festival massacre using immersive technology.

This effort is considered the first publicly documented case of a state attempting to shape discourse through generative AI systems. The initiative is part of a broader "Technological War Room" strategy under the government-backed non-profit "Voices for Israel."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has denied funding influencers or geofencing operations, calling the reports "an organised and false disinformation campaign."

Support for Israel among U.S. conservatives and evangelicals has declined sharply since the war in Gaza began, with Pew surveys showing a rise in negative views from 42% in 2022 to 53% in 2025, and half of young Republicans now holding a negative view.

The pro-Israel campaign is part of a $145 million effort to rebuild Israel’s image in the U.S., using a mix of traditional hasbara, digital manipulation, and emotional storytelling. The contracts are executed through Havas Media Germany, a subsidiary of the global advertising firm Havas, which acts as an intermediary for foreign-agent filings in Washington.