Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex examine Israel's $1 billion campaign to shape global opinion and policy toward Israel with the researcher who's done the work to expose it: QI Fellow Nick Cleveland-Stout.
Nick's new paper, "The Eighth Front: Inside Israel's $1 Billion Influence Campaign," is the most detailed accounting yet of Israel's changing approach to winning hearts and minds after the genocide in Gaza. Nick walks Courtney and Alex through his new research, and traces how hundreds of millions of dollars flow from Israel's Foreign Ministry through a network of American firms to influence operations that target you. For decades, the Israeli government relied on AIPAC and allied American organizations to advance its interests in America. After Gaza, even the formidable Israel Lobby can't stop the erosion in US support for Israel — so Israel's hasbara budget for 2026 now tops $750 million.
Nick explains how Clock Tower X — the firm run by Trump's former digital campaign director Brad Parscale — won the largest active Israeli foreign agent contract in the United States ($46.5 million) to run a nationwide texting campaign, buy into Salem Media's Christian conservative programming, and even build a network of fake websites designed to manipulate training data for AI chatbots.
But can this investment in winning our hearts and minds actually overcome the what's driven a sea-change in US opinion on Israel — Americans actually seeing what happens when our government underwrites Israeli war crimes and military aggression?
READ NICK'S NEW RESEARCH: quincyinst.org/research/the-eighth-front-inside-israels-1-billion-influence-campaign
0:00 - Intro
2:45 - Meet the researcher exposing Israel's $1 billion influence machine
5:07 - Why Netanyahu called this his most important war
9:34 - How Israel went from AIPAC to hiring Trump's campaign manager
24:31 - Who Israel is trying to influence (and why it's not working)
32:21 - How to manipulate an AI chatbot
41:19 - $10 million in secret ads — and nobody noticed
48:08 - Why Israel's influence campaign is backfiring
###
Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.
They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.
Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org
Show art by Justin Hantz
###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.
Help fund our research: quincyinst.org/donations
Read our reporting: ResponsibleStatecraft.org
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: tiktok.com/quincyinst
Facebook: facebook.com/quincyinst
Instagram: instagram.com//quincyinst
Website: quincyinst.org
In the latest episode of Always at War, Courtney and Alex examine Israel's $1 billion campaign to shape global opinion and policy toward Israel with the researcher who's done the work to expose it: QI Fellow Nick Cleveland-Stout.
Nick's new paper, "The Eighth Front: Inside Israel's $1 Billion Influence Campaign," is the most detailed accounting yet of Israel's changing approach to winning hearts and minds after the genocide in Gaza. Nick walks Courtney and Alex through his new research, and traces how hundreds of millions of dollars flow from Israel's Foreign Ministry through a network of American firms to influence operations that target you. For decades, the Israeli government relied on AIPAC and allied American organizations to advance its interests in America. After Gaza, even the formidable Israel Lobby can't stop the erosion in US support for Israel — so Israel's hasbara budget for 2026 now tops $750 million.
Nick explains how Clock Tower X — the firm run by Trump's former digital campaign director Brad Parscale — won the largest active Israeli foreign agent contract in the United States ($46.5 million) to run a nationwide texting campaign, buy into Salem Media's Christian conservative programming, and even build a network of fake websites designed to manipulate training data for AI chatbots.
But can this investment in winning our hearts and minds actually overcome the what's driven a sea-change in US opinion on Israel — Americans actually seeing what happens when our government underwrites Israeli war crimes and military aggression?
READ NICK'S NEW RESEARCH: quincyinst.org/research/the-eighth-front-inside-israels-1-billion-influence-campaign
0:00 - Intro
2:45 - Meet the researcher exposing Israel's $1 billion influence machine
5:07 - Why Netanyahu called this his most important war
9:34 - How Israel went from AIPAC to hiring Trump's campaign manager
24:31 - Who Israel is trying to influence (and why it's not working)
32:21 - How to manipulate an AI chatbot
41:19 - $10 million in secret ads — and nobody noticed
48:08 - Why Israel's influence campaign is backfiring
###
Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions.
They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.
Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org
Show art by Justin Hantz
###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.
Help fund our research: quincyinst.org/donations
Read our reporting: ResponsibleStatecraft.org
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: tiktok.com/quincyinst
Facebook: facebook.com/quincyinst
Instagram: instagram.com//quincyinst
Website: quincyinst.org
