In the midst of the firestorm of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli propaganda that has spread throughout the media, official spokespeople for the Israeli government have been on the frontlines of debunking lies. One spokesmen who has been lauded for his work is Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, who served from July of 2017 through June of 2023.
After retiring from the military last June, the war in Gaza brought him back into the spotlight for some time as a reserve officer to once again defend Israel on the international stage. He returned to his private practice public relations agency at the end of December. He is also presently serving as a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC.
I recently spoke with Jonathan Conricus to understand the inner workings of being a spokesperson for Israel.
You’ve been the voice of reason through maddening times. A lot of people miss you now that you retired.
Thank you. But I’m still active even though I’m no longer in uniform. My most recent interview before this one was yesterday; I did an hour on i24. So I’m still doing things, but the big US networks have kind of moved on. They don’t want IDF interviewees anymore.
You no longer speak in an official capacity, correct?
Correct. I finished my reserve duty a couple of weeks ago and now I’m just me. But I was never the only guy doing interviews with the American and English-language media. There were others as well, and one of them is still there. His name is Peter Lerner. He’s a very good spokesman. He has a lot of experience as well as a lovely English accent. Then there’s Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, who has a Scottish accent. Richard Hecht is the new English-language IDF spokesperson.
How did you get the position of spokesperson in the first place?
When the massacre first happened, I reported for duty, and I told Richard Hecht, who’s a friend of mine, that I wanted him to be able to sleep at night, so I would do the night shift. I ended up doing a lot of interviews and got lots of publicity, and I was very happy about that. One thing led to another and that’s how it evolved. There was a big demand for interviews.
What were you doing before you became an IDF spokesperson?
I served in the army for 24 years, from the age of 18 until the age of 42. I’m 44 now. Since I completed my military service, I’ve been in strategic communications as a private citizen. I have a company that deals with public relations, crisis management and media training, along with a few other things.
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