Jonathan Conricus

Jonathan Conricus (; born August 14, 1979) is a Swedish-Israeli spokesperson and media commentator. He was the international spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces from 2017 to 2021 and again in 2023. Conricus is a senior fellow at the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, based in Washington, DC, in the United States. He was an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in which he served for 24 years before returning to duty as a reservist in 2023. He was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and raised in Malmö, Sweden—in Hyllie and Djupadal. His grandfather, Daniel Bornstein, grew up in Oświęcim in Poland, where Nazi Germany operated the Auschwitz concentration camp, and was a Holocaust survivor along with his sister. The rest of Bornstein's family was murdered.

When he was 13 years of age, Conricus and his family moved back to Israel. He and his wife have four children.

Israel Defense Forces and diplomatic career Conricus spent 24 years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), from 1997 to 2021, and retired as a Lieutenant-Colonel before returning to duty as a reservist in 2023. He was responsible for collecting information for UN forces deployed in war zones around the world, including in Nigeria, Somalia, Congo, and Ukraine, and assessing risks. During that time, he would commonly do 30 interviews in a 24-hour period. He gave interviews on, among others, BBC, CNN, Sky News, NBC, and ABC News. After the October 7, 2023, attack he said: "If Hamas were to come out of their hiding places.., return our hostages — all 212 of them — and surrender unconditionally, then the war would end. If they won't, we will probably have to go in and get it done."

Current career Conricus is now a senior fellow at the think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which is based in Washington, DC, in the United States. He is no longer an IDF spokesperson, nor is he a government spokesperson.

Speaking of Gaza in 2024, Conricus said: "I spent five years in Gaza before the disengagement [of Israel in 2005]. I knew we’d be back.... I was concerned we were doing it unilaterally, and we didn’t have anybody on the other side.... When you look at Gaza’s history, culture, their general disposition, and fundamental leanings, it’s very hard to imagine how Gaza could have gone anywhere other than where it is right now."

Literature

„Jonathan Conricus: The Swedish Israeli Making the Case for Israel on the World Stage“, in: The Jerusalem Post from 8. July 2024. „Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus bids Farewell: The IDF International Spokesperson Is Concluding His Service“, on the Website of the IDF