Israel is not a brand to be sold. It is a nation fighting for its life.

A few months ago, American Jews online watched in disbelief and even comic amusement as Lizzy Savetsky—an influencer who had started in fashion accessories and whom my daughters and I had persuaded to become a pro-Israel influencer instead—actually paraded around the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, after I had been physically attacked and threatened with murder there by Faiz Akbar, a radical and dangerous Islamist. Rather than standing with a fellow Jew who had influenced her to change her career to stand with Israel, which had become very lucrative for her, and who had been assaulted, she strolled the pool deck in a bikini, camera in hand, coaxing Orthodox Jewish men to say how much they “loved” the hotel.

It was a spectacle. Everybody saw it for what it was: a likely paid PR stunt designed to whitewash a resort mired in antisemitism allegations. An influencer for hire trying to rehabilitate the sullied reputation of a hotel that actually had the chutzpah to sue me into silence (they failed: the case is in court and we have countersued for $20 million). In that moment, Savetsky compromised not just her dignity but her credibility. She transformed herself from an advocate into a billboard.

What made it worse was that as I and national Jewish organizations like the ADL were exposing Akbar’s and the hotel’s revolting misconduct, instead of holding them accountable, Savetsky chose to become their defender—whether for money or free vacations or some other undisclosed compensation —while they sued me for daring to speak the truth.

Her integrity, her believability, and her effectiveness as a voice for Israel and the Jewish people were irreversibly undermined. To many Israel supporters nationwide, she and her husband, Ira, became a joke.

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Now, months later, comes the staggering news that Israel itself has been paying influencers $7,500 per post to defend the Jewish state. Just like that, the credibility of thousands of us who speak from conviction, not cash, is cast into doubt. If an influencer can be bought to promote a hotel accused of antisemitism, and now the Jewish state is exposed for paying influencers to defend its honor, then who among us can be trusted to be authentic?

Israel is not Coca-Cola. It is not a brand to be advertised with glossy influencer deals. Israel is a miracle, the fulfillment of two thousand years of Jewish longing, the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust. Its defense cannot be reduced to a business transaction.

The greatest weapon in Israel’s arsenal is authenticity. When a Jewish student on a hostile campus stands up and says, “I love Israel because it is my ancestral home and the refuge of my people,” that truth pierces through slander. When a rabbi preaches about the moral foundations of a Jewish state, or when a survivor speaks of Israel as living proof that Hitler failed, these words carry power because they are real.

Paying for posts is not advocacy. It is advertising. And when it comes to existential matters of life and death, authenticity is the only currency that counts.

The real damage of this scheme is not financial but moral. By paying individuals to tweet or post on Israel’s behalf, Israel’s leaders have poisoned the well of sincerity. Every student activist, every rabbi, every community leader who speaks up for Israel now will face the accusation: “You’re just on the payroll.”

This accusation is devastating because it cannot be disproven. The very existence of the program allows enemies of Israel to dismiss authentic voices as bought and paid for. It transforms devotion into suspicion and weakens the very grassroots networks Israel most needs.

This is not the first time Israel has stumbled by confusing propaganda with persuasion. In the 1970s, Israel spent millions on glossy PR campaigns in the West, trying to sell itself like a tourist destination. Meanwhile, what truly won over the American public was not advertisements but the sheer courage of Israel’s survival against overwhelming odds in 1967 and 1973.

In contrast, think of Natan Sharansky’s fight in the Soviet Union. No government check compelled him to stand up to tyranny. His authenticity electrified the world, making “let my people go” a rallying cry across continents. Or Golda Meir speaking to American Jews after the Yom Kippur War—not because she was compensated, but because she carried the weight of a grieving yet unbroken nation.

Movements that endure are powered by conviction. Propaganda may produce short-term noise, but authenticity produces long-term loyalty.

Let me be clear: Israel does need a professional, disciplined, global communications strategy. Hamas, Iran, and their allies have mastered social media warfare. And we all know that Qatar has spent tens of billions, and perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars to poison the minds of Western youth, especially on campus. Lies spread like wildfire, while truth too often limps behind. But we are not revolting, disgusting, terror-funding Qatar. The solution is not to buy voices. The solution is to train, equip, and empower authentic ones.

Here’s what Israel should do instead of cutting influencer checks:

Train the next generation – Create academies of digital advocacy where Jewish students, activists, and rabbis learn how to argue Israel’s case with skill, clarity, and passion.

Build communities, not contracts – Invest in volunteer networks of truth-tellers. Support them with resources, not paychecks.

Provide tools, not talking points – Give activists access to video editing software, graphic design resources, research libraries, and translation services. Let them create and share, not copy and paste.

Be transparent – If funding is used, say it openly. Support should go to education and infrastructure, not secret influencer payoffs. Transparency builds trust.

When IDF soldiers do not have bulletproof vests or Kevlar helmets to go into battle, don’t disgrace the state by paying influencer nobodies, which many of them are, $7,500 per post while Israel’s soldiers go into war armor-naked.

I speak personally here. I have millions of followers across social media and across the world, thank God. I have used those platforms to defend Israel day and night, not because I was ever compensated, but because I cannot rest while Israel is slandered. I cannot sleep at night when I see all the lies online. And I cannot be silent when I have three children in the IDF fighting for Israel’s survival. When October 7 happened, I spoke not for money, but because silence would have been a betrayal of the Jewish dead.

Now, because of a reckless program, all those like me who love Israel with all their hearts, and who receive daily death threats, and who get viciously attacked in the streets, as I have experienced several times this year in Vienna, Miami Beach, Sydney, Australia, and of course, repeatedly in New York etc., etc.—who have given their lives to Israel’s defense—are left exposed to suspicion. This is not only unfair, it is corrosive. It discourages young Jews from entering the fight because they don’t want their sincerity questioned. It tells our enemies that we can be bought.

Israel must end this misguided initiative immediately. Scrap the influencer paychecks. Replace them with a real investment in grassroots empowerment. Trust in the Jewish people’s devotion, which has never failed Israel even in her darkest hour.

Israel does not need mercenaries of opinion. It needs believers who speak from conviction. It needs rabbis, students, writers, activists, mothers, fathers, and soldiers who stand up because they cannot remain silent.

Israel is not a brand. It is a nation fighting for its life. The defense of Israel must never be confused with the sale of Israel.

For my part, I will continue to speak out for Israel as long as I draw breath—because Israel is the beating heart of the Jewish people, the shield of Jewish survival, and the last line of defense against barbarism. No paycheck could buy that conviction, and no misguided policy should be allowed to diminish it. I could not be more proud that my son Mendy, who is a chief English speech writer for the speaker of the Israeli Knesset, is now a top global media influencer. My daughter Chana has become the single greatest Jewish influencer in the world about kosher sex, spiritual sexuality, passionate monogamy, and the beauty of marital intimacy. And my daughter Rochel Leah is quite simply the best-known Jewish female influencer of intellectual bent defending Israel online anywhere in the world.

They may not end up being billionaires, although who knows, and I would love to be supported in my old age. They may not get free holidays and suites or penthouses in the Miami Beach hotels. But they will have lived lives of indescribable purpose, giving themselves to the Jewish people now and forever, and to the greatest miracle that has befallen the Jewish people since the destruction of the second temple – the modern, glorious, righteous, and electrifying State of Israel.

Am Yisroel chai. Chag sameach.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is an American author, broadcaster, and public speaker. He is the founder of the World Values Network and the author of more than 30 books on ethics, Judaism, and politics, including “Kosher Sex” and “Judaism for Everyone.”