Israeli advocacy roulette – using video chat apps to win hearts and minds
The rise of apps that match random strangers on video chat is being capitalized upon by advocates for Israel, enabling them to "cross borders" and have meaningful engagements with opponents they would never normally meet. But does it work?
“Jewish Jess” is one of the figures who have become famous for their online interactions and, as a result, keeps her family name private. Originally from North London, Jewish Jess recently moved to Israel and has become a widely recognized face of Jewish advocacy, a role which comes with benefits but also challenges.
“I was on the light rail when someone came up to me and said, ‘I love your content where you fight with people, it's awesome.’ Well – a lot of the time you're not fighting, are you? More like trying to make peace,” she told ALL ISRAEL NEWS.
Platforms like Umingle, Omegle, and the Azar allow users from anywhere in the world to type in topics they want to talk about, and connect with others interested in the same subjects.
However, according to Jess, it’s not for the fainthearted.
“I try and make peace, but I don't think there's much peace to be made anymore. I try my best to be diplomatic, give us a good image, but it's really hard,” she admitted.
Jess, who comes from a marketing background, launched into action following the events of Oct. 7, 2023.
“I was glued to my phone and social media,” she recalled. “When everyone had their eyes glued to the TV, I had my eyes glued on TikTok and I was watching some of the most horrendous celebrations of the attack whilst it was still happening. I just basically stood up and said, not in my name, no way. I have a big mouth, and I started debating people from that day on, and it just never stopped.”
Jewish Jess is not the only one making the most of the opportunity to talk with people from “enemy” countries with polar opposite viewpoints. There is a whole community engaged in the same activity.
“We're all friends. We're all very fortunate to have a very tight-knit group, especially here in Israel,” she said, adding that people like the Travelling Clatt, Sahar TV, Abraham Hamra, Joseph Cohen and others were constantly in contact with one another, sharing content and encouragement. Some, like Itay Benda, use music to soothe potentially hostile chat partners.
Explaining how the apps work, Jess broke it down for the uninitiated: “It's almost as if it's an online chat room, but it has the video-audio element added into it,” Jess began. ”So essentially what you do is you go onto the website – we use Umingle because it's very topic-particular – you type in your keywords or topics, so mine typically are, “Do you have a studio?” “Islam,” “Muslim,” “Israel,” “Palestine,” “Iran,” and a few others have thrown a “Nazi” in or a “KKK” every so often. And it matches you with people around the world who have similar search terms to you.”
Jess estimates that approximately 30% of the conversations have been positive, usually because they were with fellow pro-Israel members. Of the remaining 70% who were more pro-Palestinian, about half seemed open to respectful dialogue or even openness to different perspectives.
“I would say it's 50-50 whether I can change their minds or not, or at least spark the idea that they might have something that they haven't got 100% correct,” she said.
“Fifty percent of the bad conversations start bad and end up either in a place of neutrality or in a place of, ‘I'm sorry I swore at you, I shouldn't have been so nasty, but free Palestine.’ I would consider that a good outcome to a bad conversation,” she clarified.
Even when encountering pro-Israel matches in the "roulette" of these chat apps, the conversation can be fruitful and informative, as fellow advocate Joseph Cohen discovered after speaking with a highly educated Kenyan lawyer from whom he learned a great deal.
Jess said that peers like Cohen reported similar results across the board: about 30% of matches are pro-Israel, about 70% pro-Palestine – 50% of whom remain adamantly hostile.
“You might be able to reach a place of respect, even if not agreement. And occasionally, occasionally you see switches,” said Jess.
“It’s important to have these conversations. I think the platforms are amazing. They're connecting us with people who we'd never connect with on a day-to-day basis,” she enthused.
“We're hearing conversations, and we're sparking opinions, but also sparking people to use their brains to critically think,” she continued. “I'm not there… to indoctrinate anyone, to make anyone miraculously pro-Israel. But if I can make someone raise their eyebrow and question themselves, even the slightest, that's a job well done for me.”
Jess spoke about an Egyptian man who initially expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah but later joined a Discord group chat after encountering “Sahar TV” online.
“Not to support Israel, but to snoop on the Israelis,” Jess said. “But he said that over the course of three months, he was reading what everyone was saying, and he was seeing the unity in that group. And he started realizing that a lot of what they were saying was grounded in truth… it wasn't on emotion, it was on fact rather than feelings. So he started doing his due diligence, and now, three years down the line, he goes on Umingle to fight for Israel.”
Jess concluded. “So it does work. It's doing what it needs to do.”
“I've had people who have sat on the fence and I've given them enough information where they said, I'll at least go and do my homework...“I mean, I would love someone to start saying, “Am Israel Chai!”... but it's just not obtainable in a 20-minute conversation.”
In one interaction, Jess was greeted by a string of curse words from the mouth of a young Palestinian woman – something that she says happens all too often. People often “skip” the conversation, closing it down, as soon as they realize they are talking to an Israeli, she explained.
“Normally what happens is they come and scream at me and then they skip, which is why you see me in that video saying, “Don't skip, don't skip!”
Jess asked what all the cursing was for, and the Palestinian girl admitted she didn’t really know; she was just raised to do it instinctively. As they continued to talk, the girl calmed down and even apologized for swearing. “People like that, I try and engage with them,” Jess explained, saying that most of the time they won't allow it. ”But I at least want to try and it worked with that girl and it's worked with a few other people,” she said.
According to Jess, it’s not unusual for conversations to begin with a torrent of derogatory terms. "That’s when I know that they're not there in good faith.”
“A lot of them only search “Israel” because they want a match with Israelis,” she said. “Within the first five seconds, they start going, “Jew! Jew! Jew!” it's from the offset… They're not there for conversation.”
Being the subject of harsh criticism and vitriol has not been easy. In the weeks and months after Oct. 7, Jess was not sure how to handle all the hatred, but she has learned not to take it to heart.
“I have had people commenting on my appearance, my voice, my opinions. I've had all sorts,” she said, adding that she is particularly frustrated when people accuse her of being paid by the Israeli government, adding, ”I wish!”
“Now, I use all of their hatred that they throw at me as fuel to my fire,” said Jess. “I realized that the more they hate me, the more necessity there is for us to all keep going. Because until they stop being derogatory and they stop being antisemitic and they stop normalizing Nazi rhetoric, our job is not done.”
“We've got to keep going,” she stressed. “This is what they call the eighth front.”
Jo Elizabeth has a great interest in politics and cultural developments, studying Social Policy for her first degree and gaining a Masters in Jewish Philosophy from Haifa University, but she loves to write about the Bible and its primary subject, the God of Israel. As a writer, Jo spends her time between the UK and Jerusalem, Israel.
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