‘Sheikh Avichay’ Gets Under Gazans’ Skin With Koran Quotes
- Israeli army spokesman followed widely by Arabic speakers
- Communicating with him on social media punishable by arrest
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Palestinians mock him as ‘‘the sheikh.’’ Communicating with him risks arrest. From his computer in Tel Aviv, Israeli Major Avichay Adraee has become a celebrity of sorts in the Gaza Strip, where his social media posts, sprinkled with Koranic passages, have resonated in unprecedented ways.
Make no mistake: the Israeli army’s top Arabic-language spokesman isn’t a welcome presence on Gaza laptops and mobile phones. His messages, exhorting Palestinians in fluent Arabic to avoid confronting Israeli soldiers at protests, have been denounced by mosque preachers and at the highest levels of the ruling militant Hamas movement.