Key facts
- Avichay Adraee, Israel's Arabic-language military spokesperson, has gained significant recognition across the Arab world.
- His social media posts, delivered in fluent Arabic, often include warnings for civilians ahead of military strikes.
- Adraee's accounts have amassed 2.5 million followers across various platforms.
- He claims his warnings have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
- Adraee has faced accusations of incitement and justifying the killing of journalists.
- He is set to retire this year.
Avichay Adraee, Israel's Arabic-language military spokesperson, has become a prominent and controversial figure in the Arab world due to his extensive use of social media to communicate warnings and military messages. With 2.5 million followers across platforms, Adraee, who is retiring this year, delivers statements in fluent Arabic, often employing satire and pop culture references. His posts have been instrumental in warning civilians in Gaza and Lebanon ahead of Israeli strikes, a practice he claims has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
However, Adraee is also viewed as the "face of evil" by many Palestinians and Lebanese, with his warnings often preceding devastating military actions. The ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon have resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and significant displacement, alongside thousands of deaths and over a million displaced in Lebanon. Adraee's role has drawn allegations of war crimes, which Israel denies. His communications have also been criticized for potentially inciting violence, particularly after accusations that he labeled Palestinian and Lebanese journalists as militants before or after they were killed in Israeli strikes. One instance involved a computer-generated image of a journalist in military fatigues, which Adraee later admitted should have been labeled as "illustrative," though he maintained the journalist was a Hezbollah operative.
Adraee, who grew up in Haifa and developed a passion for Arabic from a young age, became the military's first Arabic-language spokesperson in 2005. He noted that the rise of social media in 2011 allowed him to leverage his persona to "talk directly to the people, above the heads of the government." This approach aligns with a broader trend of official spokespeople using viral content to shape war narratives, a tactic also employed by groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and even governments like the White House. Adraee's successor will be Lt. Col. Ella Waweya.