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Israel Pays Evangelicals with Trump Ties to Create Pro-Israel Content

• https://ronpaulinstitute.org, by Jacqueline Sweet

The American Conservative reveals that some of the first payments from the so-called Esther Project have been to evangelical Christian consultants, one with links to former Donald Trump aide Brad Parscale, who runs a right-wing media company that's partially owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Lara Trump. Other consultants paid by the firm come from a network of evangelical Christians in Trump's orbit that have long been cultivated by the Israeli PR professional running the effort as a facet of maintaining support for Israel among American religious conservatives.
 
The Esther Project is an influence campaign run by a company working for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to the firm's recent disclosure with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA.) The September filings from Bridges Partners LLC, which mapped out a well-funded campaign, sparked rampant speculation about which pro-Israel American social media influencers might receive thousands of dollars to create pro-Israel content, as American popular support for Israel's actions in Palestine continues to wane.
 
Two new, similar campaigns from Israel's Foreign Ministry have also been launched in recent months. One will pay a California company to "geofence" attendees at Christian colleges and churches in Western U.S. states to deliver them pro-Israel ads. Another effort will give Brad Parscale $6 million to use predictive AI to create pro-Israel media for Gen Z audiences. 
 
But the Bridges Partners social media influencer campaign's links to Parscale and evangelical Christian advisors have not yet been reported.
 
Bridges Partners' influencer campaign runs through Havas Media Group, a Germany-based organization. Bridges Partners LLC was formed in Delaware this June by two Israeli consultants, Uri Steinberg and Yair Levi. Steinberg worked for Israel's Ministry of Tourism for a decade and was its North American tourism commissioner from 2014 until 2018. As commissioner, he partnered with various American evangelical groups, and as an independent consultant he worked, in his own words, "as a conduit between Israeli and American entities, helping them to connect with one other, primarily with the faith-based community." 
 
Steinberg also serves as director of CityServe Israel, a branch of California faith-based charity CityServe International that has worked with Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump several times and describes itself as a "collaborative network designed to help local churches create greater impact and offer hope in the name of Jesus. We mobilize the church to fulfill its purpose locally and globally."
 
Steinberg has long partnered with American evangelical leaders. In 2009, he even met with leaders of Kentucky's Creation Museum, which promotes a literal belief in creationism and the events depicted in the Bible. 


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