Avichay Adraee

Avichay Adraee was born in 1982 in Haifa

Adraee was born in Haifa in 1982. His mother's parents came from Iraq, and his father's family came from Turkey and Syria. He grew up in Haifa and studied at the Hebrew Reali School, where he took Arabic and computers.

He joined the IDF in 2001 and served in Unit 8200 of the Intelligence Corps, where his Arabic improved. In 2005, after the Gaza disengagement, he was named head of the Arab media section of the Spokesperson's Unit. He then went to officer training and rose in rank over the years, becoming a colonel in 2024.

He first appeared in the media during the 2006 Lebanon War and has given many interviews to Arab channels such as Al Jazeera. He built large audiences on the IDF's Arabic social media accounts. During the wars with Hamas and Hezbollah he issued evacuation warnings to residents of Gaza and Lebanon, and Amnesty International called these warnings misleading.

Because of his public profile he received threats, and in 2024 it was revealed that the attacker in a Ra'anana attack had planned to kill him. On 15 February 2026 he handed his post to Ella Waweya in Tel Aviv and became an adviser. He lives in Rehovot with his wife Hila and their 3 children.