When native New Yorker David Benger was a law student at Harvard, his eyes were opened to a shocking world of outright discrimination. While serving as chapter president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights, Benger worked with countless undergraduate students, as young as 17 and 18 years old, who all had one thing in common: They were being outed and shamed for their Jewish identity.
“These kids were constantly getting smacked in the face with ‘Israel is an apartheid state,’ and ‘How dare you wear a Magen David,” he said. “That’s when I decided I needed to be a vocal advocate for Zionist causes.”
Benger’s online Jewish advocacy work began in an academic context. While working on a book project about contemporary antisemitism in progressive spaces, he decided to join Twitter to get a sense for what was out there in the modern Zionist world and the challenges that advocates were facing online. It was on Twitter where Benger was able to interact with other Zionist “influencers” and interview them about their work and experiences being pushed out of progressivism for being Zionist—which, Benger explains, is a thinly veiled excuse for antisemitism.
His social media activity inspired him to begin writing about the same issues—in the past year, Benger has published two pieces for the New York Daily News and has kept up an active Times of Israel blog. “That’s when I really started getting attention…now I definitely have a more active Zionist voice.”
Benger, who tweets under the pseudonym “Louis D. Dice,” paying homage to the former Supreme Court justice, has now attracted nearly 3,000 Twitter followers in his first year. The vast majority of his tweets follow an overarching theme: fighting anti-Zionism and antisemitism using academic sources and accessible information. Benger cited The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel to be his favorite sources for news about Israel, since “their reporting draws a clear distinction between straight news and editorialized content.”
Being a Zionist advocate on social media comes with its obvious trials and debates. Benger recalled one of the most memorable Twitter arguments he was ever involved in was with self-proclaimed civil rights cartoonist Eli Valley, who was putting out drawings that Benger described to be “actual Nazi propaganda.” Benger tweeted Valley’s “disgusting” drawing and called him out for the blatant antisemitism—and when Valley and his followers caught wind of Benger’s tweets, Benger faced terrible slurs and threats. “I don’t regret it though…the more people that draw attention to what a dangerous, propagandist cartoonist he is, the better.”
When asked about the overall goal of using social media as a platform for productive discourse, Benger was reminded of one instance that he described as a great example of a favorable outcome. He was contacted via Twitter by a particularly progressive person who was in the process of converting to Judaism and was unsure about their stance regarding Zionism. Benger messaged with this person for a total of seven or eight hours about the history of Israel and the Zionist platform—and in the end, found himself blocked by this person. Benger’s Zionist friends also reported being blocked by this person, who had ultimately decided to align themselves with other anti-Zionist progressives. A few months later, Benger noticed that he was unblocked, and began to receive messages from this person thanking him for the time he spent speaking about the Zionist cause. When Benger asked why, the person explained that he quickly discovered “what kind of crowd” these anti-Zionists are and how much Jew-hatred exists in those circles.
Benger explained that this is almost rarely the outcome of online discourse. His advice to those pursuing social media advocacy is to keep in mind that even when it’s clear that someone won’t budge on their opinion, your arguments must still remain rock solid. This is because it’s not about the person you’re arguing with, it’s about the people who are watching the argument unfold.
“There have been countless times when I’ve received messages from people saying, ‘I saw your argument with so-and-so, and I didn’t know very much about this issue.’ They ask for more information, and I can educate them and give them recommended reading. It happens all the time.”
Benger’s online Zionist advocacy has primarily been on Twitter. He also reported being active on a platform known as “Clubhouse,” which he described as “democratized talk radio.” On Clubhouse, users can host a room and decide who gets to speak and at what time, which makes it the ideal platform for intellectual discussion without interruption. Benger has hosted a plethora of expert briefings on Israel and international law and has remained involved with other sessions on Clubhouse as well.
Overall, Benger emphasized that social media advocacy is not without real dangers. “Folks who are brave enough to stand up for Jews have been doxed and threatened. I know people who have had death threats sent to them along with their home addresses. The stakes are really high.”
You can follow David Benger at
@Dem_Bitz on Twitter.
Channa Fischer reports on digital Jewish and Zionist advocacy. She resides in Washington Heights.
