Israel is paying to shape how American conservatives think about it, and the effort is growing fast because support is slipping even among its traditional base.

• A US firm called Starboard signed a half-million-dollar deal with an Israeli company to run a 120-day influence campaign aimed at conservative Americans, using a database of over 25 million verified conservative voters to target and measure how opinions shift.
• Israel's overall propaganda budget for next year is set at roughly $730 million, more than four times what it spent the year before, a sign of how worried its government is about losing American support.
• The push is aimed squarely at Republicans and evangelicals, long seen as the most reliable base backing US funding and military support for Israel, because polling shows a majority of younger Republicans now view Israel unfavorably.
• The money isn't just going to lobbying — reporting points to broader influence over media ownership and messaging, which is why so much mainstream and right-wing coverage has echoed similar talking points for years.
• Critics say the campaign is partly a response to public backlash over the war's civilian death toll, which images and reporting have made harder to spin away.

Outlook: Expect Israel to keep ramping up spending on US media and influence campaigns, especially targeting conservatives, as public opinion continues trending unfavorable.