Newly filed records with the Department of Justice show that Israel’s government has quietly launched a two-track influence operation in the United States, blending big-budget political advertising with grassroots-style influencer campaigns.

The filings reveal that a firm called Bridges Partners LLC has been hired to manage an influencer network under a project code-named the “Esther Project.” It is unclear if there is any link to Project Esther, a plan to combat antisemitism published by the Heritage Foundation, an American right-wing think tank. . .

Attached documents show that the firm, owned by Israeli consultants Uri Steinberg and Yair Levi, was formed in June 2025 in Delaware and soon after received nearly $200,000 to recruit and coordinate US-based social media influencers.

The contracts allow for up to $900,000 in payments over several months and include a detailed pricing schedule: $60,000 in upfront payments to cover influencer recruitment and concept development, another $140,000 in development-phase payments as five or six influencers began posting, and monthly allocations of up to $250,000 earmarked for influencer fees, production, and agency costs. A final $50,000 was budgeted for wrap-up and post-campaign reporting.

In a meeting dedicated to harnessing pro-Israel media energy on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to a cohort of Israel’s influencers. “We have to fight back. How do we fight back? Our influencers. I think you should also talk to them if you have a chance, to that community, they are very important.”

Being paid by Israel to post on social media is also very lucrative. According to previously unreported recent documents, these influencers are likely being paid around $7,000 per post on social media such as Tik Tok and Instagram on behalf of Israel.

The document, which was filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, notes that the funding is for both “payments for influencers and production,” but does not provide a breakdown between the two. When taking into account the administrative production costs through Sept. 16 — legal fees, banking fees, marketing fees, and other project services noted in a separate document — that leaves an estimated sum of $552,946 for the influencers between June and September of this year.

The firm estimated that the cohort was expected to produce 75-90 posts in that time. Doing the math, that would be $6,143 per post on the low end. On the high end, each influencer could be making as much as $7,372 per post.