With the ranks of its foreign sympathizers plummeting all around the world and all across the political spectrum,the State of Israel is quadrupling its budget for so-called "public diplomacy," bringing its 2026 spending on foreign influence campaigns to a massive $730 million.

With the country'sgrowing unpopularitythreatening US financial, military and diplomatic support, Israel's foreign minister has said an intensified effort to mold global opinion is an "existential issue." Both inside and outside of Israel, the country's public diplomacy effort is also referred to by its Hebrew name:hasbara. Even before the 2026 ramp-up in spending, Israel's spending on hasbara was already striking.

Recent disclosures about 2025 hasbara spending shed some light on how Israel goes about shaping public opinion. Per theJerusalem Post, that year's outlays included a$50 million social media ad campaigncarried out on Google, YouTube, X and Outbrain. Another$40 millioncovered the hosting of foreign delegations.“We flew a lot of delegations to the country - whether it’s pastors, whether it’s politicians, universities,”Israeli Consul General Israel Bachar told theJerusalem Post. “Everyone who returns from the country understands better and is more supportive. But you have to fly out a lot of people.”

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“We must as a country invest much, much more,” Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar argued in December.“It should be like investing in jets, bombs and missile interceptors.In the face of what’s arrayed against us and what’s invested against us, it’s far from enough.This is an existential issue.”

An April Pew Research survey found that60% of American adults now view Israel unfavorably-- that's up 18 points from 2022. Underscoring the mammoth challenge faced by Israel's hasbarists, the proportion of Americans who have averyunfavorable view of Israel now stands at 28%-- triple what it was in 2022. Most alarming for Israel is thecratering of support among Republicans, with 57% of those under 50 now viewing Israel unfavorably.

The erosion of US support has taken place over a span that has included Israel's stunningly-destructive rampage across Gaza in response to the Oct 7 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, and this year's US-Israeli war on Iran which has caused fuel prices to rocket higher while threatening a global economic catastrophe.

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Israel's weakened position in US politics is manifesting in various ways.Candidates in Democratic primaries are now attacking opponents who've taken money from the pro-Israel lobby, which has prompted those forces to effectively "launder" their contributions through intermediary organizations. This week, 30 House Democrats co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio,demanding that the US government finally acknowledge the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal-- ending decades of bipartisan obfuscation. Votes in Congress that follow the Israel lobby's recommendations used to be enormously lopsided on Israel's side, but are now decided by just a handful of votes -- with the lobby still prevailing for now.

In October, westerners' wariness of Israeli hasbara was heightened byResponsible Statecraft'srevelationthat Israel waspaying social-media influencers something like $7,000 per pro-Israel postthat they made.

Source: ZeroHedge News