The heightened concern over Fara around 2018 was sparked in part by a series of enforcement
actions against Trump administration officials for unregistered lobbying for foreign interests.
The July 2018 Israeli legal memo noted that “in the past, Fara was applied to countries hostile to the US”, such as Russia and Pakistan. Glazer warned that the new atmosphere of enforcement, given the ties between the Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and
Donald Trump, could lead to a formal investigation by the US justice department.
Another memo from 2018, which summarized a discussion led by then deputy attorney general Dina Zilber, noted increased public attention to Fara due to “the investigation into Donald Trump and officials in his government suspected of operating as ‘foreign agents’ for the Russian government”.