Israel is reportedly running a covert campaign against the White House, targeting both U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. Israel paid US$1.5 million a month to Clock Tower X, a company owned by Trump’s former presidential campaign manager and digital strategist, Brad Parscale, to help execute plot.
It is alleged that Israel targeted Trump’s own MAGA political base through coordinated online messaging, conservative influencers and artificial intelligence in an effort to shape American opinion on the Middle East.
The allegations, first detailed in an investigation by TIME magazine, have now been amplified by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who said the Trump administration had intelligence indicating that some elements within the Israeli government sought to sway American public opinion during negotiations over the Iran ceasefire.
According to the TIME investigation, Israel’s Foreign Ministry signed a contract worth US$1.5 million per month with former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale’s digital firm, Clock Tower X, to improve Israel’s standing among young American conservatives as support for the country declined following the wars in Gaza and Iran.
The report says the campaign was designed to produce at least 100 pieces of digital content each month, generate tens of millions of online impressions and improve how leading artificial intelligence platforms—including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini—describe Israel and the conflict.
According to TIME, “Parscale presented himself as uniquely positioned to improve Israel’s reputation among young conservatives. He stressed his experience at the helm of Trump’s political operation, with a grasp of both the architecture of the modern internet and the political movement Trump had built.”
TIME further reports that Parscale insisted the initiative had been successful. “The purpose of this campaign was to prevent the enemies of Israel and the West from driving a wedge between Israel and the Americans who have traditionally supported it—particularly on the political right—as they have already succeeded in doing among significant portions of the left.”
The investigation also alleges that conservative influencers received coordinated messaging through private channels, with some campaigns rewarding participants based on the reach and engagement of their social media posts. According to TIME, U.S. officials became concerned after numerous prominent MAGA influencers simultaneously criticised President Trump’s June ceasefire agreement with Iran using strikingly similar language, prompting suspicions of a coordinated influence operation.
Vance cites intelligence
Speaking during a lengthy interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Vice President Vance said the allegations reflected information available to the administration rather than mere speculation.
Vance said there had been a “very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign” aimed at derailing the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts with Iran and claimed the administration knew “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that some people within the Israeli system were manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going indefinitely.
He argued that while many foreign governments attempt to influence Washington, such efforts should never shape U.S. policy. “What does bother me is when those influence campaigns actually affect American political judgment, because they shouldn’t,” Vance said, adding that American leaders must always act in the interests of the United States.
His remarks mark one of the strongest public criticisms of alleged Israeli influence operations ever made by a sitting U.S. vice president.
Parscale denies wrongdoing
Parscale has categorically denied attempting to undermine Trump or influence White House policy on behalf of Israel. “I have never funded, organized, or participated in any effort to undermine President Trump—ever,” he told TIME, describing suggestions that he coordinated opposition to Trump’s ceasefire proposal as “completely false.”
He acknowledged that one objective of the campaign was to prevent young conservatives from abandoning Israel but insisted all activities complied with U.S. law. He also denied using Israeli government funds to pay social media influencers.
TIME reports: “Inside the White House, some officials were frustrated for a different reason. What had begun as an effort to keep the American right supportive of Israel, they believed, had evolved into an influence campaign that was colliding with the President’s political interests as Trump’s and Netanyahu’s war aims diverged, led by a figure trading on the perception that he remained close to Trump. They believed the very media ecosystem Parscale had promised to activate was now helping to circulate arguments that undercut Trump’s effort to end the war.”
Israel rejects the allegations
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed the TIME investigation as defamatory. In a statement, the ministry said all of its digital public diplomacy activities were transparent and conducted in full compliance with U.S. law. “We hide nothing and we obfuscate nothing. We certainly do not interfere in any U.S. foreign or domestic policy,” the ministry said.
It confirmed that it had hired a digital communications agency to combat what it described as rising hatred against Jews and Israel while strengthening support for the U.S.-Israel alliance. The ministry rejected claims that it had attempted to manipulate American politics, calling the allegations “malicious attempts to harm Israel’s good name.”
A senior U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told TIME: “We’re talking about American influencers who are being paid by a foreign country, then trying to build momentum to change the President’s view, or the views of others around him.”
