The severe decline in Israel’s standing in the United States is reflected not only in troubling public opinion polls published in recent months, the dramatic surge in antisemitic incidents or the election of an openly anti-Israeli candidate, Zohran Mamdani, as New York City’s new mayor. According to an internal document of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, most American advertising companies have recently refused to run Israeli state campaigns on electronic billboards in Times Square.

New York is home to the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel. Times Square is one of the city’s most iconic and crowded locations. At the start of the war, shortly after the October 7 massacre, pro-Israel organizations used the giant screens to promote campaigns supporting Israel and calling for the release of the hostages.

Since then, the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli consulate in New York have also used this arena to publish campaigns on behalf of the State of Israel. For example, in August of this year, before a ceasefire was reached, a graphic video showing Rom Braslavski in Hamas captivity was aired. Another disturbing video showed executions carried out by Hamas in the Gaza Strip under the headline “Hamas Must Go.” And just this week, the Israeli consulate in New York published an outdoor campaign calling for the return of the body of fallen IDF soldier Ran Gvili, the last captive still held by Hamas since October 7.

Now, according to a Foreign Ministry request for an exemption from a tender obtained by Shomrim, Israel sought to purchase additional advertising space in Times Square for a campaign planned for next year. But the attempt ran into difficulties. “There are many advertising companies operating in Times Square that hold franchises for outdoor billboards,” the minutes of a discussion held earlier this month stated. “Out of all the advertising companies, only two agreed to publish content and videos for the State of Israel. All the other companies refused to screen videos for the State of Israel.”

A comparison conducted by Shomrim between these minutes and the minutes of a discussion on the same issue held last year found that at that time, five companies submitted price offers to the State of Israel. To the best of our knowledge, the fact that it was an Israeli campaign was not raised as a problem.. Now, due to companies’ refusal to submit bids, the Foreign Ministry decided to continue working with the company currently providing the service.

A marketing professional at one of the companies that previously submitted an offer told Shomrim he was not aware of any refusal by his company to run Israeli content, but explained that companies are sometimes subject to certain restrictions imposed by the owners of the buildings on which the billboards are installed.

The Foreign Ministry did not answer Shomrim’s inquiry into how many advertising companies the ministry approached, and responded as follows: “Many videos have been screened in Times Square in New York and viewed by millions of residents and passersby as part of the foreign ministry’s battle for hearts and minds. It should be clarified that there are billboard companies in Times Square that display only commercial content and refrain from any political content (regardless of its nature). Of course, outreach to the companies was conducted in accordance with proper administrative rules and in compliance with the law.”