Hours after dozens of diplomats walked out of his UN speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found receptive audiences at two private New York events where Jewish-American influencers framed Israel's challenges in starkly different terms than his domestic critics.
The contrast could hardly have been starker. At 11 a.m. on Friday, representatives from numerous nations streamed out of the UN General Assembly hall as Netanyahu approached the podium.
By evening, he was surrounded by social media personalities calling him a protector of the Jewish people and thanking him for making it "not so easy to kill Jews anymore."
The two events – a roundtable discussion and an intimate Friday night dinner – came at a critical moment for Netanyahu, who faces mounting criticism at home for his "Sparta" vision of an isolated but self-reliant Israel, a concept that has alarmed business leaders and sent markets tumbling.
A diplomatic exodus
Netanyahu's UN speech was met with one of the largest walkouts in recent memory, with delegates from Arab, Muslim, African, and several European nations leaving the hall.
Those who remained heard Netanyahu attack countries recognizing Palestinian statehood, comparing it to "giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11."
"Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere," he told the largely empty hall, employing what opposition leader Yair Lapid called "tired gimmicks" including props, maps, and a QR code pin linking to October 7 content.
The Israeli opposition was scathing. Lapid called it "whining" with no substance, saying Netanyahu "worsened the situation of the State of Israel" rather than stopping the "political tsunami" of international recognition for Palestine.
Yisrael Beytenu chair MK Avigdor Liberman, on X, described the speech as partisan and lacking the vital message "ending the war in exchange for the release of all the hostages."
The Democrats chair MK Yair Golan said that Netanyahu's speech was "just victimhood, hypocrisy and total insensitivity to the suffering of the hostages and the sacrifices of the soldiers.” Adding that "Netanyahu is a disconnected man who is dangerous for Israel.”
Blue and White Party head Benny Gantz took a more measured tone, saying that the PM “described sharply and clearly the just and necessary war," but he stressed that he was not doing enough to secure the release of the hostages, “the prime minister’s main role is not to speak but to act."
The Sparta controversy at home
Just weeks earlier, Netanyahu had stunned Israeli business leaders by warning that Israel must prepare to become a "super-Sparta" – an isolated, self-reliant economy cut off from global trade. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange immediately dipped, and the Israel Business Forum, representing 200 major companies, issued an unprecedented rebuke: "We are not Sparta."
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett warned that embracing isolation was "surrendering" rather than fighting for Israel's position. Current opposition figures accused Netanyahu of turning Israel into what Liberman called "a third-world country."
A different audience, a different message
Yet hours after the UN walkouts, Netanyahu found himself in markedly different company. At a roundtable organized by Consul-General Ofir Akunis, he met with American social media influencers who brought entirely different concerns to the table.
"My biggest concern right now is the division amongst the Jewish people," said Lizzy Savetsky, a content creator. "I stick my neck out there and say the harsh truth that people don't often wanna hear, and I am attacked by my fellow Jews."
Debra Lea, a Fox News commentator, introduced herself by describing her experience in Israeli bomb shelters during her gap year, explaining how it motivated her to "get involved geopolitically to one day be in a position to help Israel."
The conversation took a poignant turn when Lea mentioned Charlie Kirk's assassination just two weeks earlier. Netanyahu's response was telling: "You have to fight. If you live a life, which you do, I think the only value of a life is if it's a life of purpose." He urged them to "embrace the fight," promising that "if you lead, you'll have followers."
The attendees' social media posts revealed how they processed the day. Shay Szabo, who attended the roundtable, wrote that Netanyahu "leads the Jewish people in a time of war," adding that supporting any Israeli leader during wartime "commands my respect, even if I may or may not disagree with the politics."
From formal to intimate
The Friday night Shabbat dinner represented an even warmer embrace. In an atmospherically lit room with white flowers and wine, TV personality Siggy Flicker addressed Netanyahu and his wife Sara directly: "Today, because of the IDF and the both of you, it's not so easy to kill Jews anymore."
Akunis, speaking in Hebrew on his Instagram story, framed the day's events in military terms, calling diplomacy the "eighth front" in Israel's current conflicts and praising Netanyahu's UN speech as "one of the best.
The communication gap
The influencers' genuine concerns focused on Jewish unity, fighting antisemitism, and supporting Israel during wartime. Yet their framing differed markedly from the debates raging within Israel about Netanyahu's specific policies and their consequences.
While Israeli business leaders warn about economic isolation and opposition figures debate the trajectory of the war, the influencers spoke in broader terms about eternal threats to the Jewish people and the need for solidarity.
This pattern fits what researchers have identified as a growing trend in digital diplomacy. According to the China Media Project's recent analysis of "influencer diplomacy," governments increasingly turn to social media personalities to "sidestep traditional diplomatic and media channels" when facing skepticism.
As they noted regarding China's strategy: "Audiences see authentic-seeming testimonials from personalities they admire, making the messaging more persuasive."
A study in the journal International Studies Review found that leaders increasingly use social media influencers to reach audiences directly when "traditional forums become hostile," allowing them to craft messages for specific audiences without the scrutiny of diplomatic corps or critical media.
The eighth front
The day's progression – from diplomatic isolation at the UN to warm embraces from influencers – occurred as leaders increasingly use social media personalities to reach audiences directly.
For Netanyahu, facing what he himself calls "isolation" internationally and "Sparta" warnings domestically, these influencer gatherings offered something the UN General Assembly could not: an audience that sees criticism of his policies as attacks on the Jewish people themselves.
The influencers, for their part, expressed genuine commitment to fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel. Their dedication is real, their concern heartfelt. Yet the gap between their discussions and the specific policy debates roiling Israel reveals how the same events can be interpreted through vastly different lenses depending on one's distance from the political specifics.
As Netanyahu himself told the gathered influencers: "If you lead, you'll have followers." He demonstrated that principle by finding exactly the followers he needed, exactly when he needed them most.
The question that lingers is whether seeking sympathetic audiences abroad while facing criticism at home represents effective diplomacy or what Bennett and others fear: an acceptance of isolation rather than a fight against it.
What's clear is that in an age of social media and fractured information spaces, leaders can now choose their audiences as never before – and those audiences may have very different understandings of what they're actually endorsing.