US Vice President JD Vance accused "certain elements within the Israeli government" of financing a campaign whose participants attacked him over the Trump administration's negotiations with Iran. Speaking during an interview on Joe Rogan's podcast, Vance claimed that a "very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign" had sought to derail negotiations and a ceasefire agreement.Vance cited a TIME report that examined a digital campaign run by Brad Parscale, a former Trump campaign manager, whose firm Clock Tower X was hired by global advertising agency Havas to conduct a campaign on behalf of the State of Israel.
According to Foreign Agents Registration Act filings reviewed by TIME, Israel agreed to pay Clock Tower X $1.5 million per month. The campaign was intended to produce online content aimed primarily at younger audiences and amplify messaging through social media and other digital channels. TIME reported that three people familiar with the operation described a network in which conservative influencers received suggested language through private group chats and were compensated according to the reach and engagement generated by their content.
Parscale denied that money from the Israel contract was used to pay influencers and rejected allegations that he had sought to undermine President Donald Trump's policies. Vance, however, described the report differently. "It lists a bunch of people who have quite literally been paid by a former Trump campaign person who was himself paid by certain elements within the Israeli government," Vance told Rogan. He alleged that those individuals were "attacking me viciously for quite literally trying to accomplish the negotiation objective that the president set for the country."
Asked by Rogan how he was being attacked, Vance pointed to social media posts and leaks to reporters. "They're attacking me obsessively, saying that we should not be negotiating with Iran. We should just keep the military campaign going indefinitely," he said. Vance said critics had accused him of being influenced by Qatar and other foreign governments and of taking "marching orders from Tucker Carlson." (Read More)
