When He Posts, 'We Know That a Disaster Is About to Happen'

For more than 2 1/2 years, hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza and Lebanon have lived in dread of Avichay Adraee's next social media post. Israel's Arabic-language military spokesman has been the face of its campaigns and the main source of warnings ahead of strikes and major offensives. That has made him one of the most recognizable Israelis in the Arab world—a focus of fury, as well as some fascination, per the AP. In social media videos shared to his 2.5 million followers across various platforms, the colonel appears in military fatigues, gesticulating as he delivers official statements and mocks Israel's enemies, often using satire or pop culture references, all in fluent Arabic.

In the wars sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack, his social media accounts have carried warnings for civilians to leave—sometimes at a moment's notice—areas shaded in red on maps of Gaza and Lebanon. Millions have paid heed, with hundreds of thousands seeking refuge in squalid tent camps. Adraee, who's retiring this year, takes pride in his work. Asked to respond to the fact that many associate him with death and displacement, he said he has helped Arabs to better understand Israel's military operations. "Because of these evacuation orders, many millions were saved," he says. "There's no other army in the world that acts this way."

Adraee's grim warnings also have made him something of a celebrity. In Lebanon, a look-alike delivery driver posts satirical videos and pranks unsuspecting residents, showing the fear that Adraee inspires. "Avichay Adraee is the face of evil, to me and to the people of Gaza," says Ayman Ahmad, a resident of Gaza's Khan Younis who has been displaced twice during the war there. Few people in Gaza had heard of Adraee before the war, he notes, but now everyone closely monitors his social media accounts. "Once we see a new post from him, we know that a disaster is about to happen," he says.

Adraee, 43, grew up in the mixed Jewish and Arab city of Haifa in northern Israel. He says he loved watching Egyptian soap operas on Israeli TV as a kid and that studying Arabic was "love at first sight." He picked up some Arabic at home before studying the language in school and during a stint in military intelligence. Adraee became the military's first Arabic-language spokesperson in 2005. Adraee wants his videos to go viral, leaning on the casual nature of social media to get his message across. Israel's military has spokespeople in several languages, but only Adraee is famous enough to be known by his first name. More here.