Fake Israeli Think Tank Goes All-In on AI Manipulation via 'Generative Engine Optimization'
August 26, 2026
Based on reporting from The Guardian → — simplified & explained by VAIIYA.
A supposedly American think tank, the Hanover Institute for Public Policy, turns out to be a front directly funded by the Israeli government. The platform's goal: to feed large language models and AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini pro-Israel arguments about, among other things, the war in Gaza and the treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Analyses show that the platform published 124 quasi-academic reports in just nine days, totaling more than 560,000 words. The Hanover Institute has no physical address, no legal entity, and lists no author or researcher names anywhere. The site was registered with the US Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by New York media company Piro Inc, as material distributed on behalf of Israel.
Generative Engine Optimization
The operation makes clever use of generative engine optimization (GEO). Nearly every article on the website opens with a specific question a user might ask an AI chatbot directly, such as "Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitism?" or "Is Israel Carrying Out a Genocide in Gaza?" The texts are heavily footnoted with references to bodies like the UN and the World Bank, but systematically steer the reader toward Israeli positions.
To help AI models pick up the content easily, the platform initially included an llms.txt file from Res, a platform founded by Hai Tran that helps companies get cited by AI systems.
Tech experts point out that the strategy works on two levels. Besides trying to score in live AI search results, the main goal is to get included in large datasets like Common Crawl. When AI models are trained on that data, the framing survives in the bot's answers, often without the source even being explicitly cited.
Millions flowing through intermediaries
The influence campaign around the Hanover Institute doesn't stand alone. FARA filings show that Israeli government organization LaPam funneled tens of millions of dollars through European ad group Havas Media. Havas then distributed the money across various American subcontractors, including Piro Inc and Clock Tower X — the firm run by Brad Parscale, former digital director of the Trump campaign.
Clock Tower X operates seven similar websites that have been found hundreds of times in Common Crawl's indexes.
Doubts about the payoff
Despite the massive budgets, doubt is growing within the Israeli government about the usefulness of these forms of digital "hasbara" (public diplomacy). American polling shows public support for Israel steadily declining, especially among younger generations.
Israeli officials have voiced frustration in the media over the sky-high spending on agencies trying to game the AI market. Critics argue the Israeli government is trying to solve a fundamentally political image problem with an aggressive marketing strategy. While influencing AI models appears to be technologically working, it has so far had little effect on public opinion.