Notable Houston churches among 200 statewide highlighted in pro-Israel campaign

"An Israel-backed public relations campaign eyed more than 200 Texas churches to spread pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian messages among American Christians through personalized digital marketing at each place of worship. In an 86-page Foreign Agents Registration Act filing, California-based Show Faith by Works, LLC, outlined details of the campaign on behalf of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Federal law requires certain agents of foreign countries engaged in political activities to publicly disclose their relationships and activities."

""We will create a mobile museum to display at churches, Christian colleges, and Christian events," the filing states. "We will target and distribute pro-Israel information online and through targeted geofencing and digital online tools. We will have teams of people reaching out to churches and pastors and possibly even Christian social media influencers." A geofence is a virtual perimeter around a physical location, and advertisers can use location-based technology to target devices such as smartphones in that specific area."

"Chad Schnitger, who signed the disclosure, wrote in an email to the Houston Chronicle that project planners are focusing less on Texas in recent conversations because the group is predominantly made up of Southern California Christian leaders. The purpose of listing Texas churches in the filing was to identify regions that have the highest density of evangelical churches, and Texas was among the highest in the Southwest, he said."

An Israel-backed public relations campaign targeted more than 200 Texas churches to spread pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian messages to American Christians through personalized digital marketing at each place of worship. California-based Show Faith by Works LLC filed an 86-page Foreign Agents Registration Act disclosure on behalf of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The campaign plans to create a mobile museum for churches, Christian colleges and events, and to distribute pro-Israel information online using targeted geofencing and digital tools while deploying teams to contact churches, pastors, and Christian social media influencers. Some Texas church leaders raised privacy concerns about collecting worshippers' data without their knowledge. Project leaders said they will prioritize Southern California first.

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