Israeli Arabic Spokesman Avichay Adraee Retires After Two Decades Warning Gaza and Lebanon Civilians of Strikes

Avichay Adraee, Israel's Arabic-language military spokesman for more than two decades, is retiring this year. 5 million people, carried repeated warnings for civilians to leave areas shaded in red on maps of Gaza and Lebanon, sometimes at a moment's notice. Adraee, 43, grew up in the mixed Jewish and Arab city of Haifa.

His father's family belonged to the Jewish community that lived in the area for generations before Israel's establishment in 1948. His mother's family came to Israel from Iraq. He became the military's first Arabic-language spokesperson in 2005 and said the rise of social media in 2011 allowed him to reach Arab audiences directly.

In videos posted to his accounts, Adraee appeared in military fatigues, delivering statements and using satire or pop culture references in fluent Arabic. He told The Associated Press that the evacuation orders saved lives. “Because of these evacuation orders, many millions were saved,” he said.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza and Lebanon monitored his posts for warnings of impending strikes. Millions followed the instructions, with hundreds of thousands moving into tent camps. Israel's offensive in Gaza killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced most of the population of some 2 million, often multiple times, before a fragile ceasefire took hold in October.

2 million. Both campaigns drew allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel has denied the allegations, often through spokespeople including Adraee.

Ayman Ahmad, a resident of Khan Younis in southern Gaza who was displaced twice during the war, said few people in Gaza knew of Adraee before the conflict. “Avichay Adraee is the face of evil, to me and to the people of Gaza,” Ahmad said. ” In Lebanon, a delivery driver who resembles Adraee posts satirical videos and plays pranks on residents.

Last month, a teenager in a Beirut suburb messaged Adraee on Instagram claiming her school hid weapons. The Lebanese military searched the school and found nothing. The girl later said she was joking with a friend to avoid class.

The Committee to Protect Journalists documented at least 207 journalists killed in Gaza and 16 in Lebanon since 2023. The group said Adraee has shown a “repeated pattern” of labeling Palestinian and Lebanese journalists as militants or terrorists, often without verifiable evidence, before or after they were killed in strikes.

After a March strike killed three journalists in Lebanon, Adraee's account posted a computer-generated image of one victim, Ali Shoeib, in military fatigues.

Adraee said it was a mistake not to label the photo as “illustrative,” but maintained that Shoeib was a Hezbollah operative who spied on Israeli positions while working for a Hezbollah-linked outlet. He presented no evidence of Shoeib's involvement in fighting. Israel says it does not target journalists.

Adraee will be replaced by Lt. Col. Ella Waweya, the military's highest-ranking Muslim woman.