'The face of bombing and displacement': Arab world reacts to resignation of Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee

The resignation of the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, has provoked a strong reaction from the Arab world, after he essentially became the face of Israel’s wars in the Gaza Strip and the region to Arabic speakers.

Palestinian activists and others from the region labelled him "a war criminal" and "one of the most prominent figures" in Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip, as well as the chaos that ensued in the region - particularly in Lebanon - amid the war’s spillover.

The loved ones of Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif, who was killed by targeted Israeli strikes in August this year, said that Adraee was guilty of "intensified incitement against Palestinian media workers," among them al-Sharif, during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Adraee particularly targeted the slain journalist, accusing him of being a member of Hamas’s military wing. Al Jazeera, which al-Sharif worked for, slammed Adraee’s statements at the time, calling them "an attack on [Sharif's] character and integrity".

Adraee used his platform on X to issue Palestinians so-called evacuation orders from areas Israel was seeking to strike, and to warn of incoming Israeli attacks. He also made similar statements regarding Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen.

His threats often sowed panic and fear in the region, as he never provided specific times and dates when residents could return home – if they were not already killed by Israeli bombs.

At the height of Israel's war in the region, Amnesty International accused him of providing "misleading and inaccurate" information concerning evacuations, risking people’s lives.

On his resignation, Lebanese journalist Zahraa Dirani said on X that Adraee "now leaves the scene after twenty years of lying in Arabic," saying that any interaction with the Arabic-speaking Israeli army officials "is a thread in the fabric of normalisation".

Adraee announced on Tuesday his intention to retire after 20 years with the Israeli army, where he used social media platforms X and TikTok extensively to extend the army’s reach into the Arabic-speaking world. He was also interviewed by several broadcasters in the region over the years.

His Arabic-language content was often deemed provocative, cringey, and in bad taste. In one video, posted in 2021, Adraee parodied the popular Mohammad Assaf song Ana dammi falastini (My blood is Palestinian), replacing the patriotic Palestinian lyrics with ones pertaining to Israel. He also posted his own versions of popular TikTok trends – often met with a bad reception from internet users in the Arab world.

Arabic-language media also didn’t shy away from criticising him either. In a video report on his resignation, the Arabic edition of AJ+ said Adraee has left the Israeli army after "twenty years of whitewashing Israeli crimes and terrorising people with bombardments and displacement".

Another affiliate of the Qatari network, Al Jazeera Mubasher, called him "the architect of the false Israeli narrative," while the pan-Arab outlet Daraj Media called him the "face of bombing and evacuation warnings".

Lebanese channel MTV headlined a report on his resignation with: "After Adraee, who will be the Lebanese’s next nightmare?". 

Of Iraqi, Syrian and Turkish Jewish descent, Adraee’s career began in his Israeli army career with the Intelligence Corps' Unit 8200, a unit that deals with signals intelligence. He joined the army's spokesperson's unit in 2005, where he became the head of the Arabic media department one year later.