A leak of Israeli documents revealed a billionaire-backed influence network codenamed "12 Tribes," showing how former intelligence officers, American tech magnates, and government ministries coordinated a global campaign to manipulate public opinion, suppress pro-Palestinian activism, and train artificial intelligence systems to promote pro-Israel rhetoric online.

The story of the "12 Tribes" project begins with a memorandum at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), the country's most influential military think tank. It proposed forming "an exclusive group of 12 of the most influential Jewish philanthropists symbolizing the 12 Jewish tribes; the Israeli government should act as the 13th, facilitating tribe."

Former Defense Minister and army commander Benny Gantz was tasked with leading this initiative. In the leaked planning documents, the operation is described as "a non-hierarchical parent structure working for the benefit of the people and the state" — a decentralized network designed to mobilize private capital, intelligence expertise, and digital influence without the legal and diplomatic constraints that bind government bodies.

Here are some of the most influential names in global business and technology who regularly fund the project:

1⃣ Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle
2⃣ David Ellison, his son and CEO of Paramount Global
3⃣ Haim Saban, media magnate and longtime sponsor of the US Democratic Party
4⃣ Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google
5⃣ Frank Lowy, co-founder of Westfield Group and former chairman of the Australian Institute of National Security

Each was asked at the project's start to contribute $1 million as seed funding to create a secret fund supporting influence and surveillance operations, including contracts with the Israeli intelligence firm Black Cube to monitor and suppress pro-Palestinian activism in the US and Europe.

The Israeli government coordinates strategy, intelligence, and target selection while maintaining its role in secrecy.

The "12 Tribes" project is not just a donors' club. It is conceived as an ecosystem — a digital army combining influencers, artificial intelligence systems, and manipulation algorithms.

The documents describe partnerships with private intelligence and marketing companies tasked with "training generative systems," such as ChatGPT, to replicate pro-Israel narratives, conceal information about victims in Gaza, and promote "shared democratic values."

A parallel investigation by Dropsite News revealed that the Israeli Prime Minister's office also commissioned a $45 million Google Ads campaign aimed at denying the existence of hunger in the Gaza Strip. This campaign, coordinated by pro-Israel NGOs, was designed to fill search results and automated ad spaces with "counter-narratives" refuting UN reports.