Jonathan Conricus, PR Superhero for Israel
A voice of reason in an unforgiving media world
“Terrorists like Sinwar have to be lucky every time, but we only have to be lucky once.” - Jonathan Conricus on the death of Yahya Sinwar
For all of its strengths, Israel is terrible at PR. It’s a nation that excels at startups and innovation, but that lacks a robust mechanism for communicating with international audiences. That is one of the main reasons why, in my opinion, so much misinformation about the country goes unchallenged. The spokespeople representing the IDF therefore serve an important purpose because for millions of people around the world, they may be the only face of Israel that they ever know.
For English-speaking western audiences, that face is Jonathan Conricus.
Born in Israel and raised primarily in Sweden, Conricus served in the IDF for 24 years as an infantry soldier, commander, military diplomat, and later as an international spokesperson. He speaks 4 languages: Hebrew, English, Arabic, and Swedish.
After the October 7th massacres and the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War, Conricus again took on the responsibilities of spokesman as a reservist. As the war stretched into months, Conricus appeared on outlets such as the BBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX in uniform. Those interviews were significant because he clearly explained the why behind Israel’s actions to an audience that largely never has experienced war in their lives. I could tell that he was sometimes fatigued from giving so many interviews to ill-informed reporters during odd times for him, since he had to appear on-camera during American work hours whilst stationed in Israel. Nevertheless, he always answered questions (many stupid) with a legendary amount of patience.
I have witnessed Conricus put up with verbal abuse in a manner that would impress Gandhi. Here are some examples of questions that journalists of major media outlets posed to him or expected him to apologize for on Israel’s behalf:
Why didn’t the IDF warn the Gazans before Yamam forces broke into a building to rescue 3 Israeli hostages?
Why should we trust his judgment on the war if he worked for the IDF? (That one is my favorite)
Why did Israeli forces “intentionally target civilians” when they blew up thousands of Hezbollah pagers?
Why is Israel committing genocide against a people represented by an organization that is akin to the French Resistance? (This one is real! Video below - I made it so it starts at that specific moment):
Jonathan Conricus represents the Jewish people the way we all deserve to be represented: with class, dignity, and a sincere mission to uphold the core values of the Jewish state.
Conricus is brilliant! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤍💙
Thanks Mr Conricus!!