IDF Arabic flack roasted in Egypt
Popular satire show makes fun of Avichay Adraee, saying his looks are no match for Cairo counterpart Ahmed Ali
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleYifa Yaakov is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, gets plenty of attention in the Arab world, boasting over 100,000 Facebook followers.
But he was surprised, if not amused, when an Egyptian satirist mocked him recently on a popular web-based show.
Satirist Ibrahim el-Garhi, who hosts the Garhi Show, devoted a skit this week to Adraee and his Egyptian counterpart, military spokesman Ahmed Ali.
The skit takes place in the Mossad headquarters, where top Israeli intelligence officials can be seen sitting in a darkened conference room decorated with Israeli flags to discuss the most dangerous “biological weapon” Egypt is using against Israel — the “sexual attraction weapon.”
A subsequent scene shows an Israeli military trial in which an IDF soldier identified as “Esther Bluminsky” is sentenced to three years in jail and stripped of her rank for “keeping a photo of the Egyptian military spokesman in her wallet.”
A close-up shows Ali’s photo inside “Bluminsky’s” bright-pink — and otherwise empty — wallet.
We then return once again to the Mossad conference room, where the officials are at a loss trying to solve the problem.
“Do we have a spokesman?” asks the director, played by el-Garhi himself. “Yes,” say the officials tentatively, presenting the director with a photo of Adraee.
“Dear lord, what is this?” asks el-Garhi, an unpleasant expression on his face. “His name is Avichay? Adraee?”
He then wonders aloud how the “crow” — as he calls Adraee, whom he likens to ousted president Morsi’s erstwhile presidential adviser, Pakinam el-Sharkawy — could possibly be an adequate match for the sexy Egyptian secret weapon causing the girls of the IDF to forfeit their ranks.
The team then mulls various solutions, such as sending Adraee to Beirut to undergo plastic surgery and targeting Ali.
Adraee was quick to respond, tweeting that while the satirical homage to him was funny and welcome, it had little bearing on reality.
In response, el-Garhi tweeted that more satire would be on the way.
The Times of Israel Community.