Srulik Einhorn, an Israeli marketing wizard who is under investigation in his own country, is currently residing in Belgrade where he runs a consulting firm and where he worked as an advisor to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
Investigation of BIRN and the Israeli newspaper Haretz reveals his role in exporting ammunition to Israel, as well as details of the PR campaign he created for Vučić, from portraying the president as a peacemaker in global conflicts and the star of popular podcasts, through hiring famous authors to write affirmatively about him, to billboards in Western capitals promoting the "Vučić era".
BIRN and Haretz reveal that an Israeli propagandist founded the consulting firm Insight Partners in Belgrade a year ago, at the same address as the headquarters of the Institute for Politics and Economics of Southeast Europe (IPESE), where Einhorn is a member of the Advisory Board.
The Institute is headed by Zoran Korać, an influential advisor to Balkan politicians, including Aleksandar Vučić, who has long-standing close ties to influential people in Israel.
BIRN recalls that Srulik Einhorn, in his column for the Jerusalem Post in December 2023, wrote that "Serbia shines through its president" and states that the eulogy is not a surprise, as Einhorn was Aleksandar Vučić's propaganda advisor for years.
This former DJ, party planner and marketing expert, also known as "the darling of the Tel Aviv hipster scene", completely changed his image when he started working for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party in 2019. He participated in four election victories, with frequent use of, as his critics claim, "alternative facts and inflammatory lies".
Working for Netanyahu has also become the source of his numerous problems with the judiciary. Einhorn is currently at the center of a scandal in Israel because he is suspected of being one of Netanyahu's associates who was paid by Qatar to promote the country in the Israeli media.
In addition, he is under investigation for allegedly leaking secret military documents to a journalist from the German Bild newspaper, with the aim of reducing public pressure on Netanyahu over the killing of six Israeli hostages by Hamas in September 2024.
He has also been officially charged with witness intimidation in a 2019 affair in which Netanyahu is suspected of bribery.
Although it is not known exactly when Einhorn began working for Vučić, BIRN and Haaretz research shows that he has been present in Belgrade since at least the 2020 election campaign. One of the first recorded photos shows the controversial Israeli "spin doctor" at a ceremony at the SNS headquarters in the company of senior party officials.
Also, although it is not known what Einhorn did for Vučić, BIRN and Haaretz exclusively reveal the campaign he prepared for Vučić, based on one of the leaked documents from the Cathargate affair that has been shaking Israel for months.
According to Einhorn's plan, the campaign should portray Vučić as a statesman with a global reputation, a mediator in international conflicts, and present "Serbia in the AV era" as "a growing global power that drives political and economic processes around the world."
The campaign is aimed at the West, primarily the Americans and their Democratic Party, and it was planned that Vučić would appear on popular global podcasts, as well as narrate a historical mini-series about Serbia. It was also planned to hire "world-renowned writers to write about him in praise," and to put up pro-Serbian billboards in Western capitals praising Serbia's supposedly rapidly growing economy and IT sector.
BIRN and Haaretz have learned that Einhorn has not only been involved in political marketing over the past year. Sources claim that he also assisted in the export of Serbian ammunition to Israel, which was supposed to be delivered via the territory of Montenegro.
Einhorn was supposed to take advantage of his position as an advisor to Vučić, but also to Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, and organize meetings of high-ranking officials to agree on the transit of Serbian ammunition through Montenegrin territory.
This information was confirmed by a senior Israeli official who participated in the talks between the two countries, emphasizing that Israel used Einhorn's connections to "organize meetings in those countries regarding national security issues," BIRN writes, recalling that according to their previous findings, the value of Serbian arms exports to Israel increased 30 times, from 1,4 million euros in 2023 to 42,3 million in 2024, despite widespread accusations against Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Einhorn's propaganda campaign plan for Vučić was revealed by mistake. The online documentation that Einhorn shared with Jonathan Urich, a close associate of Netanyahu who is currently under house arrest, was primarily about improving Qatar's image ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
The document was first created in May 2022 and in its initial version contained a propaganda strategy for Vučić, most likely copied from another document. A few minutes later, the messages related to Serbia were deleted and replaced with content related to Qatar.
However, all changes to the documents over time were recorded, and Haaretz journalists preserved all versions, as well as evidence of digital traces leading to Einhorn and Urich.
The document, which Harec and BIRN have had access to, breaks down the internal and external goals of the Vučić campaign, the key messages that need to be conveyed, as well as possible solutions for achieving those goals.
The first goal was to "significantly improve the image of President Vučić and Serbia among the current American administration, the Democratic Party, the media, and the liberal world in the US and Europe."
The plan also envisages "promoting positive articles about Serbia and President Vučić" on the internet, using advertising tools, Taboola and Outbrain, for specific target groups (senior members of the Democratic Party, the US administration, the State Department...).
The second goal of Einhorn's campaign for Vučić was focused on domestic politics, in order to "preserve and strengthen President Vučić's international image among the citizens of Serbia and increase national support."
Therefore, the campaign message should have been that "Serbia's new international status in the Vučić era makes the country a rising global power that drives political and economic opportunities around the world."
According to the strategy devised by Einhorn, famous authors were to be hired to promote Vučić, because, as stated in the campaign documents, "there is a lack of positive texts about Serbia and President Vučić in the world media."
"We recommend hiring leading world authors who will publish favorable articles about the president. Some will meet with the president in Serbia and will be able to interview him," the document states.
One of Einhorn's suggestions was "the production of a four-episode mini-series about four significant events in the history of Serbia," in which the narrator would be Vučić himself.
"In each episode, Vučić will talk to a well-known international journalist about the event and its national significance for the citizens of Serbia, as well as the present and future of the country. The series will be posted on YouTube in combination with local and international PR," the plan states.
The Israeli campaign creators also planned to advertise Serbia on billboards around the world.
They suggested that Vučić be depicted on one of the main billboards on Broadway in New York with the inscription "Hamilton is beautiful, but Serbia is the fastest growing economy in the Balkans", referring to the hit musical that was being performed at the Broadway Theater at the time.
Also, that a billboard in the Galeries Lafayette in Paris reads "Beautiful day in Paris, by the way, Serbia opened 50 startups last year."
BIRN adds that Serbia has actually tried something similar. In 2021, a 16-second promotional video explaining the ties between Serbia and the US was placed in Times Square in New York, marking 140 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Einhorn's campaign also planned for Vucic to be a guest on some of the most famous American podcasts with authors such as Joe Rogan, Chris Anderson, Guy Raz and Ben Shapiro.
"He will be a guest co-editor or interviewed on a popular American podcast about history or politics and will present his work, ideology and the country he represents," it said.
Although he has not been a guest on the aforementioned shows, Vučić has actually started appearing on notable podcasts in recent months. He first appeared on Donald Trump's son's podcast in March, where he, among other things, called the months-long protests in Serbia a "color revolution." Trump Jr. called Serbia a country that has embraced Trump and the "values of the MAGA movement."
In early April, Vučić was a guest on a podcast hosted by Mario Nawfal, a favorite of Elon Musk's with 2,1 million followers on X, who is also known for spreading false information. In the interview, Vučić also criticized the protests, calling the people participating in them rich and a "fake elite unhappy that they are not in power."
When asked about the campaign for Vučić, Einhorn, through his Israeli company Perception, briefly stated: "We are happy and proud of our work with the President of Serbia, a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people, who is leading Serbia to international success."
Einhorn's first significant engagement on the right was for Avigdor Lieberman, a then-controversial Israeli politician who claimed that "there is no citizenship without loyalty."
One of Einhorn's most controversial promos for Lieberman, then the defense minister, was the 2018 "Burqa Video," a parody of comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen's sketches. In the video, Lieberman learns from a Krav Maga trainer, an Israeli martial art, how to peek under the burqa of a terrorist who is supposedly pretending to be Muslim, using a cell phone and selfie stick.
The video was considered a marketing failure and drew criticism for mocking women and sexually degrading them.
Einhorn's propaganda work for the Likud party and Netanyahu began in 2019 when he founded the firm Perception.
Haaretz also wrote that it was Einhorn who came up with the concept of "poll cameras" during the April 2019 Israeli elections, a controversial initiative in which activists from the ruling Likud party secretly installed cameras at polling stations in Arab neighborhoods, ostensibly to prevent electoral fraud.
The move, which has drawn strong condemnation, has been criticized as an attempt to intimidate Arab voters and incite intolerance, based on unfounded claims that they are trying to manipulate the electoral process.
The Israeli marketing expert also worked as a political advisor to Israel Katz, then Israeli Foreign Minister, during a period known for Katz's use of artificial intelligence to create illustrations intended to mock world politicians.
Since 2019, he has been working increasingly with leaders of other countries, mainly from Eastern Europe. In addition to Vučić and Spajić, according to the Israeli portal Shomerim, he has also worked for the opposition candidate in the Romanian presidential election, Mirceu Geoană.
As for Vučić, BIRN reports, he has a long history of working with Israeli propagandists.
Asaf Eisen was Vučić's first Israeli consultant and worked with him on his campaign for mayor of Belgrade in 2004.
"Ajzen has been my friend for almost a decade. Thanks to his advice, I reduced Bogdanović's lead in the 2004 Belgrade mayoral election from 16 to just 0,5 percent. He helped me then, he helps us now, and he will always help us," Vučić said in 2012.
Aron Shaviv, another Netanyahu advisor who played a key role in his 2015 campaign, worked for Vučić during his 2017 presidential campaign. According to Marker and OCCRP, Shaviv played a role in the smear campaign against opposition figure Dragan Đilas, which was dubbed the Mauritius Affair in Serbian pro-government media.
Shaviv allegedly purchased a fake report from a former Israeli special forces officer named Tal Hanan, which claimed that Djilas had secret bank accounts in Mauritius and Switzerland. Marker wrote that knowing that the report was false did not prevent Vučić from using it.
One of the key messages Einhorn prepared was that "President Vučić has turned Serbia into a global crossroads of peace and prosperity between Russia, China, the EU, the US and the Gulf countries."
In this context, Einhorn also envisioned the idea of establishing the so-called "International Mediation Hall of Serbia" (IMHOS).
"As an ally of both the Western and Eastern worlds, with friendships with the UAE, Russia, China and the USA, it is only natural for Serbia to act as a mediator and organize diplomatic events to mediate between countries in conflict," the plan states.
Vučić and other politicians in the government have spoken publicly about similar proposals, primarily when it comes to possible negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, BIRN reminds.
"If someone thinks that Belgrade is the best place for negotiations, Serbia is ready to offer it to Russian and Ukrainian friends," Vučić said on March 28, 2022, commenting on a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who mentioned the Serbian capital as a possible option.
In January 2023, during a visit to Belgrade, Czech President Miloš Zeman also mentioned this idea, emphasizing that "Serbia's neutral position, which does not support sanctions against Russia, can in some way be an advantage for a possible mediator role, because the mediator must not clearly take sides."
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