Israel Runs Digital Campaign to Sustain US Conservative Youth Support, Raising Concerns Over Pressure on Trump

Israel conducted an extensive digital influence campaign aimed at preventing erosion of support among young American conservatives, but US officials believe the effort crossed into pressuring President Donald Trump from within his own political camp, according to a report by Time magazine on Tuesday. The campaign was led by Brad Parscale, former Trump campaign manager and key architect of his digital operations. Documents filed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act reveal that Israel's Foreign Ministry contracted Parscale's company, Clock Tower X, through the advertising firm Havas, paying $1.5 million monthly.

Under the agreement, Clock Tower X committed to producing 100 original content pieces monthly, with at least 80 percent targeting Generation Z on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and podcasts. The goal was to achieve at least 50 million monthly impressions and influence how artificial intelligence systems portray Israel and the conflict. An Israeli Foreign Ministry source told Time that alongside combating antisemitism, a strategic aim was to prevent young conservatives from drifting away from Israel amid rising criticism from MAGA figures such as Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon.

According to three insiders, conservative influencers received private offers to draft social media posts and were sometimes compensated based on views and engagement. Shortly after the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, similar posts appeared online criticizing the agreement and accusing Trump of capitulation and prematurely halting the conflict. White House officials viewed the campaign as initially designed to maintain right-wing American support for Israel but increasingly at odds with Trump’s political interests as Washington and Jerusalem diverged on Iran policy.

A senior US intelligence official described the activity as foreign-funded American influencers attempting to sway the president and his circle. Parscale strongly denied the allegations, asserting he never funded or organized efforts to undermine Trump or the Iran deal and that Israeli contract funds were not used to pay influencers. He maintained the campaign’s sole purpose was to prevent Israel’s adversaries from driving a wedge between Israel and its traditional US supporters.