Speaking in Arabic, IDF warns Syrians on social media

IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a stern warning to Syrians in a viral social media post after projectiles fired from Syria hit Israeli territory over the weekend.

By YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA, HAGAY HACOHEN
Updated: OCTOBER 23, 2017 17:51
IDF Arabic spokesperson unit He who warns is just (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
IDF Arabic spokesperson unit He who warns is just
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The Israeli military's spokesman for Arabic media, Avichay Adraee, took to social media over the weekend to issue a stern warning to the people of Syria after five projectiles were launched at Israel from Syria early Saturday morning.
Three of the projectiles landed in an open area on Israel's Golan Heights, causing no damage or injuries. Later on Saturday, the IDF retaliated by attacking Syrian army positions.
In a post he penned on his official Facebook page, Adraee warned: “Even if this is an unintended spillover from a conflict in Syria to Israel that does not matter. More spillover will lead to harsher and stronger [Israeli] attacks.”
To further drive his point home, the Arabic spokesperson included a graphic in his post of a tank with a caption in Arabic that read:
“Consider yourself warned: for he who gives a warning is just.”
The latter is a well-known Arabic proverb, which the 1.2 million Arabic speakers who are following his page are likely to recognize.
Due to the IDF using Arabic social media to better communicate with Arab speakers in Israel and the world an unusual discourse in Arabic often springs to life in the comments section, with Arabic speakers from countries Israeli passport holders can’t visit using this rare chance to speak their minds.
Most of the reactions to Adraee's post were negative, including warnings that it is the Jews, and not the Arabs, who should be worried about future attacks.