$150 Million to Keep You Faithful: Inside the Israeli Influence Machine Running Through Trump World, Salem Media, and Sunday Morning

On a weekday afternoon, my phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number: area code 771, Washington, D.C.

“Hi, this is Tom. We are gathering opinions on the U.S. relationship with Israel and wanted to hear your perspective. Open to chat?”

It read like a poll. Maybe a think tank. Maybe a graduate student. I’m a journalist, so I did what journalists do: I pulled the thread. What unraveled was a multi-million-dollar foreign government influence operation, funded by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, executed by a former Trump campaign manager, routed through a German advertising conglomerate, and delivered to American citizens through fake organizations that do not exist.

That text message is only one tentacle of something much larger: an apparatus that is simultaneously infiltrating your search engine results, manipulating your AI chatbots, geofencing your church on Sunday morning, and paying your pastor to parrot talking points drafted in Jerusalem.

What follows is the anatomy of how a foreign government buys American opinion, using American operatives, American technology, and American houses of worship, while every American regulator who should care pretends not to notice.

The Operation: “Project 545”

The text I received traces back to an initiative internally designated “Project 545,” a campaign to “amplify Israel’s strategic communication and public diplomacy efforts,” according to Foreign Agents Registration Act filings with the U.S. Department of Justice. The project is overseen by Eran Shayovich, Chief of Staff at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who posted on LinkedIn about its success: “A year and two months into a long war, when the image of the State of Israel was at one of its lowest points… In the past year, we began to fight back seriously.”

The fighting back is happening in your text messages, your Sunday sermon, your Google search results, and your conversations with ChatGPT. It is happening to you, right now, whether you know it or not.

The primary American contractor for Project 545 is Clock Tower X LLC, a firm solely owned by Brad Parscale, Donald Trump’s digital media director in 2016 and campaign manager in 2020. Parscale registered Clock Tower X as a foreign agent under FARA on September 18, 2025. The contract, routed through Havas Media Germany GmbH (a subsidiary of the French Bolloré Group), was initially valued at $6 million. By December, a new FARA filing showed the contract had ballooned to $9 million: $6 million in direct payment plus $3 million in advertising budget. Israel was paying Parscale $1.5 million per month.

The contract’s stated purpose is to “develop and execute a nationwide campaign in the United States to combat antisemitism.” What it actually combats is any narrative critical of the Israeli government’s conduct in Gaza. Conflating the two is the whole game.

The Fake Organizations

Since November 2025, Americans in California, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Alabama have reported unsolicited texts from “Partners in Peace,” “Friends for Peace,” and “Allies for Peace” (names the campaign admitted it rotates). The playbook is consistent: ask your views on Israel, probe your news sources, push pro-Israel narratives and Clock Tower X links. All identified numbers used VoIP systems, the same mass-texting infrastructure associated with scam operations. Megan Iorio, Senior Counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, concluded the exchanges are “clearly automated or prescripted in some way and are not genuine conversations with a person.” Recipients report holding critical views of Israel before being contacted. They were not randomly selected. They were profiled.

The 11 Front Websites

Clock Tower X operates at least eleven front websites, each with a FARA-required footer but otherwise designed to pass as independent civil society: Allyvia.org, Econora.org, Innovascope.org, PaxPoint.org, Culturavia.org, FactSignal.org, FeedingYouFiction.com, Cognitura.org, CompassionPulse.org, Justorium.org, and an Allies for Peace YouTube/Rumble channel. Their respective beats range from economic partnership to “Judeo-Christian Roots” to pseudo-fact-checking to branding criticism of Israel as propaganda. A foreign government’s information architecture, laundered through .org domains and stock photography.

Justorium published “How Wikipedia is Being Manipulated to Distort the Record on Israel and its War Against Hamas.” A foreign-funded website posing as an independent legal platform, accusing others of manipulation. The word for that isn’t irony. It’s chutzpah.

Training Your AI to Lie for Them

Here the operation leaps from brazen into genuinely alarming. The contract mandates the “deployment of websites and content to deliver GPT framing results on GPT conversations”: websites engineered to be scraped by AI models so that when you ask ChatGPT about Israel, the answer reflects Israel’s preferred framing. Clock Tower X employs MarketBrew AI to reverse-engineer search algorithms, delivering 20+ optimized pages monthly across “priority keywords,” 100 “root creative assets,” 5,000 variants (80 percent targeting Gen Z on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts), and 50 million paid impressions per month.

When the Washington Examiner tested it, neither ChatGPT, Google Gemini, nor Claude cited Clock Tower X websites. The campaign hasn’t worked yet. The intent is still documented in a federal filing signed under penalty of perjury. Failure doesn’t make it legal.

Parscale confirmed on the record he uses front websites to manipulate search results. “Ensuring that accurate information is represented in search and AI systems is ethical and critical,” he said. “Accurate information” from eleven undisclosed foreign-funded websites, bankrolled by a government facing an International Court of Justice case. That’s the definition we’re working with.

The Salem Media Pipeline

The contract requires integrating “narrative messaging into Salem Media Network properties.” Salem: 200+ radio stations, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Right View with Lara Trump, PJ Media, RedState. Brad Parscale is Salem’s Chief Strategy Officer. One man, both ends of the pipeline, from the Israeli Foreign Ministry through a German intermediary straight into American living rooms via talk radio. In April 2025, Salem announced Donald Trump Jr. and Lara Trump as significant stakeholders. The circle closes.

Geofencing God: The Church Campaign

On September 27, 2025, Show Faith by Works LLC filed under FARA: $4.1 million, same Havas pipeline, same Shayovich oversight, same Israeli Foreign Ministry money. Mission: execute “the largest Christian Church Geofencing Campaign in U.S. history” by wrapping digital perimeters around “every Major church in California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado and all Christian Colleges during worship times,” tracking attendees’ devices, and continuing to “target with ads.” Your phone goes to church. A foreign government follows it home.

The ads are explicitly described as “pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian,” designed to increase “positive associations with the Nation of Israel while linking the Palestinian population with extremist factions.” The filing lists 219 megachurches in California, 38 in Arizona, 32 in Colorado, and 14 in Nevada, targeting 3.9 million Christians total. Six Christian colleges, including Grand Canyon University, are slated for weekday geofencing.

The operation is run by Chad Schnitger (Faith & Freedom Coalition, California chapter president; salary: $150,000) and includes a mobile “October 7th Experience” trailer with VR headsets, strobe lights, empty tents recreating the Nova festival, and IDF footage touring church parking lots. A “wish list” of celebrity spokespeople names Chris Pratt, Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, Tim Tebow, and Joel Osteen as potential “gate-openers” to these communities.

The hundreds of listed churches were never consulted. Bethel Church in Redding: “not by our choosing or request.” Canyon View Vineyard in Colorado: “We did not know about this, we did not consent to this, and we are not participating in this.” The Baptist General Convention of Texas wrote to AG Bondi, arguing this “fundamentally undermines” the separation of church and state. When Texas Baptists are telling you a pro-Israel campaign has gone too far, you might want to pay attention.

The Megachurch in Chino Hills

Calvary Chapel Chino Hills doesn’t need geofencing. The congregation gets the message from the pulpit every Sunday.

The church draws over 10,000 adults weekly under Pastor Jack Hibbs, whose political arm Real Impact (led by Gina Gleason) collected nearly 20,000 mail-in ballots across the 2020 and 2022 cycles, lockbox stations in the courtyard sorted by county. Hibbs long ago stopped pretending to be nonpartisan. In February 2024, he endorsed Republican Senate candidate Steve Garvey from the pulpit, stepped sideways a few feet, acknowledged “it’s against the law for me to say that,” and kept going. The crowd laughed. The Freedom From Religion Foundation contacted the IRS. In July 2025, the IRS decided pastors can endorse candidates without jeopardizing tax-exempt status. For Hibbs, vindication. He never stopped doing it in the first place.

Hibbs sits where every current in this story converges. Jerusalem Post’s number five “Christian Voice for Israel.” Signatory to a 200+ evangelical leader letter urging Trump to support Israel’s “sovereignty over the biblical heartland.” Premillennial dispensationalist who publicly calls rising antisemitism “demonic in origin and evidence of the End Times.” Host to Charlie Kirk multiple times, who stood on Hibbs’s stage and called the church the “sleeping giant” that must be awakened. Hibbs ate it up.

In October 2025, the church hosted the Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit (SPLC-designated hate group). Its political operation elected congregant Sonja Shaw as Chino Valley school board president; that board passed California’s first policy banning pride flags and requiring teachers to out transgender students. Shaw’s father is from Israel. In 2023, Larry Elder was fined for failing to disclose $10,000+ in income from Calvary Chapel during his gubernatorial run. The money circulates. The questions don’t.

The connections map cleanly: Trump world through Kirk and Turning Point USA, Israel advocacy through Hibbs’s theology, conservative media through Salem (where Parscale serves as CSO), Republican electoral machinery through Real Impact’s ballot operation. The geofencing campaign targets unwitting churches. This one volunteers.

The Money Map

Follow the money from Jerusalem to your phone.

The Israeli government approved a historic $150 million budget for public diplomacy, more than twenty times higher than comparable budgets in previous years. Prime Minister Netanyahu has described this as fighting an “eighth front”: a battle over legitimacy, narratives, and public opinion.

That $150 million flows through multiple channels. Clock Tower X gets $9 million for AI manipulation, mass texting, and conservative media integration. Show Faith by Works gets $4.1 million for church geofencing and the October 7th Experience. Bridge Partners gets $900,000 for the “Esther Project” influencer program, paying up to $7,000 per post. Over $45 million goes to direct digital advertising across Google, YouTube, X, and Outbrain. Additional contracts cover media outreach, social media influencer cohorts, and evangelical Christian targeting.

All of it routes through Havas Media Germany, which functions as Israel’s U.S. spending hub, aggregating and distributing foreign government funds to American operatives. All of it is overseen by Eran Shayovich from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

And the now-defunct SKDK contract, a $600,000 deal with a Democratic PR firm to run a “bot army” flooding social media with pro-Israel content, was terminated within two days of investigative reporting by Sludge. A journalist killed that contract. No regulator even tried.

The Legal Framework That Isn’t Working

The Foreign Agents Registration Act was written in 1938 to counter Nazi propaganda in the United States. It requires agents of foreign governments to disclose their activities and include a “conspicuous statement” in their communications identifying the foreign principal.

Clock Tower X’s websites carry the required disclosure in their footers. The text messages do not. A FARA specialist told Responsible Statecraft that if Clock Tower X is behind the texts, the lack of disclosure is a clear violation: “The point of the disclosure requirement is that the public wants to know and has a right to know who is contacting them.”

The most likely enforcement action? A “letter of inquiry asking them to comply.” A letter. Asking nicely.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act prohibits autodialed texts to cell phones without prior express consent. Mass VoIP texting to Americans who never opted in (which is exactly what this is) constitutes a textbook violation. The TCPA provides a private right of action: $500 per unsolicited text, trebled to $1,500 if the violation is willful. A class action is viable.

But no government agency has lifted a finger. The FCC has not investigated. The DOJ has not sent even the toothless “letter of inquiry.” The FTC has not flagged the campaign. The IRS has not examined the tax-exempt organizations that serve as nodes in this network. The machinery of accountability is in perfect working order. It simply has no interest in this particular machine.

The Question No One Is Asking

Americans spent years in collective hysteria over Russian bots buying Facebook ads for a few hundred thousand dollars. Congressional hearings were convened. Special counsels were appointed. Social media companies were hauled before committees. Executive orders were signed. People lost careers over the suspicion of foreign influence.

Meanwhile: a $9 million contract to manipulate AI chatbots. Eleven front websites. Mass texting through fake organizations. Church geofencing during Sunday worship. Paying pastors to produce content. A VR propaganda trailer touring college campuses. All of it documented in public federal filings. All of it operating in broad daylight. The only difference is the flag on the money.

FARA Registration Number 7649. FARA Registration Number 7653. Signed under penalty of perjury. Sitting on a government server for anyone to read. The paperwork is public. The indifference is bipartisan.

A country that claims to value sovereignty, free speech, informed consent, and religious liberty is allowing a foreign government to systematically manufacture its citizens’ opinions. And it calls that an alliance.

What You Can Do

If you received a text like mine: save it. Screenshot it. Forward it to 7726 (SPAM), which goes to your carrier. Send it to the journalists who have actually been doing the work on this story: Nick Cleveland-Stout at Responsible Statecraft, Jack Poulson on Substack, Donald Shaw at Sludge.

If your church is on the geofencing list (and over 500 are), walk up to your pastor and ask directly: has anyone offered you money to produce pro-Israel content? Is our congregation’s mobile data being harvested during worship? Demand a public statement. Silence is complicity.

If you believe in the rule of law, contact your members of Congress. Ask why FARA is not being enforced. Ask why the TCPA is not being enforced. Ask why a foreign government is permitted to geofence houses of worship without the knowledge or consent of property owners or congregants.

If you are an attorney, the TCPA private right of action exists. $1,500 per willful violation. The VoIP numbers are documented. The mass texting pattern is documented. A class action against Clock Tower X is not theoretical.

And if you have supported Israel reflexively, without question, because your pastor told you it was biblical, because your media told you it was patriotic, because your politicians told you it was necessary, ask yourself one question:

Why does it take $150 million in propaganda to keep you on board?

Source List (for the haters)

Primary FARA Filings (all available at efile.fara.gov):

• Clock Tower X LLC, Registration No. 7649, original filing Sept. 18, 2025
• Clock Tower X LLC, contract expansion filing Dec. 26, 2025 (contract increased from $6M to $9M)
• Show Faith by Works LLC, Registration No. 7653, filed Sept. 27, 2025

Key Investigative Reporting:

• Nick Cleveland-Stout, “Mysterious ‘peace’ groups are sending Americans pro-Israel texts,” Responsible Statecraft, Feb. 9, 2026
• Nick Cleveland-Stout, “Israel wants to pay US pastors a stipend to spread the word,” Responsible Statecraft, Oct. 15, 2025
• Jack Poulson, “Israel expanded propaganda contract with Trump’s former campaign manager,” All-Source Intelligence (Substack), Jan. 7, 2026
• Donald Shaw, “Israel’s New U.S. Influence Campaigns Target TikTok, Churches, and ChatGPT,” Sludge, Oct. 6, 2025
• Washington Examiner, “Israel funds front websites in attempt to manipulate ChatGPT,” (confirmed by Parscale on the record)
• Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “Israel to spend up to $4.1M to bolster support among Christians in western US,” Oct. 3, 2025
• FOX 10 Phoenix, “How this $3.2 million Israeli campaign will digitally target Arizona Christians,” Oct. 24, 2025
• Shasta Scout, “Registered Israeli foreign agent has its eye on three churches in Redding,” Nov. 14, 2025

On Calvary Chapel Chino Hills:

• The Daily Beast, “The California Megachurch Pushing Public Schools to the Far Right,” Sept. 4, 2023
• Patch (Lake Elsinore), “IE Megachurch Pastor Under Fire, Will The IRS Even Care?,” Feb. 29, 2024
• Christian Post, “Megachurch that collected nearly 20K ballots challenges other churches to step up,” Oct. 28, 2023
• SPLC Hatewatch, “Hate group’s political rally at California church could test federal law,” Oct. 14, 2025
• Christian Post, “Evangelical leaders want Trump to support Israel’s ‘sovereignty over the biblical heartland,'” Sept. 29, 2025
• Jerusalem Post, “10 Christian Zionists: Pastor Jack Hibbs – No. 5,” Sept. 21, 2025
• People For the American Way/Right Wing Watch, “Charlie Kirk Teams Up With Dominionists and Christian Nationalists,” Feb. 27, 2020

Regulatory and Legal Sources:

• FCC, “Political Campaign Robocalls and Robotexts Rules”
• FTC, “Top text scams of 2024,” April 14, 2025
• Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, brief on VoIP and text-based scams

Timeline

August 2025: Clock Tower X LLC drafts services agreement with Havas Media Germany on behalf of the State of Israel.

September 18, 2025: Brad Parscale registers Clock Tower X as a foreign agent under FARA. Contract value: $6 million.

September 27, 2025: Show Faith by Works LLC files under FARA. Budget: $3.2–4.1 million for church geofencing campaign.

Late October 2025: “Allies for Peace” YouTube channel (created by Clock Tower X) uploads its first video, disclosing in the end card that it was “distributed by Clock Tower X LLC on behalf of the state of Israel.”

November 2025: Mass texting campaign begins. Americans across multiple states receive unsolicited texts from “Partners in Peace,” “Friends for Peace,” and other fictitious organizations.

Mid-December 2025: Campaign shifts naming convention from “Partners in Peace” to “Friends for Peace” after public confusion with the National Collegiate Honors Council’s legitimate “Partners in Peace” program.

December 26, 2025: Clock Tower X files amended FARA disclosure showing contract expansion from $6 million to $9 million.

January 7, 2026: Jack Poulson documents 11 front websites operated by Clock Tower X on behalf of Israel.

February 9, 2026: Responsible Statecraft publishes investigation linking the texting campaign to Clock Tower X and Parscale.

May 25, 2026: I receive a text from “Tom” at 771-220-0498, asking to “gather opinions on the U.S. relationship with Israel.”

This article references documents distributed by Clock Tower X LLC (FARA Reg. No. 7649) and Show Faith by Works LLC (FARA Reg. No. 7653) on behalf of the State of Israel. All FARA filings cited are publicly available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

If you have received similar texts, share your screenshots and phone numbers in the comments. Every documented case makes it harder for this to continue in the dark.