Coming to Calgary on June 9: Israel’s Colonel of the airwaves Jonathan Conricus

By Mark Cooper, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(AJNews) – On that Shabbat morning of October 7, 2023, the sirens did more than signal a rocket attack. For Jonathan Conricus, they sounded a warning that his life was about to take a lightning-quick pivot.

As the first alarms echoed, the retired IDF Lieutenant Colonel stood at a crossroads that would soon demand a definitive, high-stakes decision between two very different ways to serve his country.

As he and his wife, Revital, and their four children hurried toward their bomb shelter, the grim reality of the reports from southern Israel began to settle in. Jonathan looked at Revital and voiced what was becoming undeniable when he saw the first clips of Hamas death squads in white pickup trucks: Israel was at war.

For Conricus the morning presented a stark choice. He could return to the front lines, leveraging 20 years of combat experience —many of those as a battlefield commander— to shield civilians from the brutal terrorist onslaught. Or, he could take up a different weapon—the communication skills he’d honed in his last four years of service as the IDF’s international spokesperson—to navigate the coming storm of global scrutiny.

Ultimately, the decision was made for him.

“I didn’t have a weapon at home,” said the 46-year-old Conricus, who will headline the June 9, Friends of JNF Canada Calgary Negev event at Beth Tzedec Congregation and titled Truth and Security in an Uncertain World.

“I had left it at the local police station for safekeeping.”

So by the end of the day, Conricus found himself in active reserve duty, working the 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. night shift as a spokesperson, handling between 30 and 40 media calls from journalists around the world and going live on major news networks each shift.

When he had a little time between interviews, often between four and five in the morning, he would craft posts on the IDF social media platforms, helping to inform hundreds of thousands of followers around the world.

It was an emotionally draining, but highly meaningful routine he repeated daily for three solid months.

“In hindsight I know how important those updates were because people tell me, still to this day how comforting, how informative and important they were and that was something that I didn’t think of at the moment.”

He knows things could have been very different had his weapon been close at hand.

“Yeah, I could have taken my motorcycle and ridden down to Gaza and God only knows how that could have ended.

“A lot of good people, better fighters than me, did the same thing and unfortunately didn’t come back,” he said, noting commanders he served with previously were killed in the fighting in Gaza, one, whose body was taken and held by Hamas.

Diaspora Jews galvanized by poise under pressure

Conricus is the first to admit his sacrifices don’t match the heavy price paid by his peers in combat. Yet, he knew his contribution was needed: for Israel, the IDF and the Jewish community around the world, who have been galvanized by his calm, steely-eyed interview demeanor.

So he put his grief aside and focused at the task at hand.

“I sensed that this was a transformative time, a really important strategic moment in history. So I set emotions aside and you know, family, kids, wife and everything else aside and I focused on the job that I had to do and that was to be sharp in interviews and represent the IDF on TV.”

Conricus may no longer wear the uniform, but he remains a commanding fixture in the global discourse on Middle Eastern security.

Transitioning from military spokesperson to high-stakes analyst, he has appeared on dozens of international networks like CNN, the BBC, and Sky News, while holding his own in panels on shows such as Piers Morgan Uncensored.

His trademark is a tactical calm. Even under the heat of aggressive interrogation, Conricus remains unflappable – a composure he traces back to his formative years in Malmö, Sweden. Raised there from infancy until age 13 by his Swedish father and Israeli mother, he absorbed the quiet discipline of his surroundings.

“There are a lot of good things about Swedish culture,” he says. “It’s a society that appreciates how you hold yourself.”

For Conricus, this poise is a professional necessity. “If an interviewee loses his composure, he loses the audience,” he explains, noting that such a lapse “undermines the very goal he is trying to achieve.” He is keenly aware that for some outlets, baiting an Israeli official makes for lucrative television. Some networks, he claims, have even stopped inviting him because he refuses to take the bait.

“I know there are quite a few networks that won’t have me on because they don’t like the fact that I hold my ground,” he says. “They prefer people they can bully and rattle.”

Reminder of Hamas atrocities helps keep resolve

Despite the relentless pressure since October 7, Conricus rejects the suggestion of exhaustion. Instead, he speaks with a defiant gratitude.

“I actually am not exhausted at all,” he insists. “As Israelis and Jews living in our ancestral homeland, free and independent, we have so much to cherish. That should give us strength.”

Yet, even his steel has been tested. As the brief window of international empathy following the October 7 attacks began to close, Conricus felt his resolve tested by a barrage of questions aimed at delegitimizing Israel’s war efforts. In those moments of mounting frustration, he found a grim way to recalibrate.

To regain his bearings, he would force himself to watch footage of the Hamas atrocities.

“I found myself needing to watch that for a few minutes to focus on why we’re doing what we’re doing,” he says. “To remember the danger on the other side, what will happen to Israelis if we don’t defeat these terrorists, and why it is necessary to do whatever it is we are doing – whatever the consequences.”

Conricus, who will be making his first visit to Calgary at June’s Negev event, will be interviewed by Kevin Libin, executive editor of Postmedia Network, Inc.

The event will also recognize Postmedia (publisher of the National Post and several other Canadian newspapers) for their commitment to journalistic integrity, particularly in regards to reporting on the Middle East.

Speaking humbly about the fundamentals of objective reporting, Libin said he is eager to sit down with Conricus for their upcoming fireside chat.

“Now is a vital time to hear from somebody like Jonathan who brings such a clear-eyed perspective and deep knowledge and analysis of what the reality is in the Middle East,” said Libin.

“We suffer from a real dearth of intelligent, well-informed analysis here in Canada … that Jonathan can give us a perspective that sees past a lot of the simplistic narratives that we are typically fed … and tend to be recycled by pundits.”

Opportunity to change Middle East trajectory

Conricus, who also attended the JNF Negev event in Edmonton in 2024, offers a candid evaluation of Middle Eastern security. While he sees an historic opening for peace with Lebanon – predicated on the fall of the Iranian regime – he is far more pessimistic regarding Gaza.

“I think we have an opportunity to change the trajectory of the Middle East,” he noted, though he believes Gaza will remain a “festering wound” where Hamas retains its grip on power. It is a grim forecast he takes personally; with his own children now of military age, the prospect of inevitable future conflict is one he doesn’t relish.

On the war on propaganda, Conricus knows antisemitism is a unique hatred that is “shapeshifting” always finding a way to continue to exist but that Israel – and the Jewish people – “don’t have the luxury of not trying.”

He is critical of the current Israeli government’s underinvestment in the “soft power” of communications and diplomacy.

He offers a blunt assessment of their poor international communication, citing this failure as the catalyst for his transition from the battlefield to a media-focused military career, where he felt his skills were at that time most needed.

Drawing on the cautionary tale of his childhood home in Malmö, Sweden, he brings a stark warning to Calgary: Jewish communities must organize and protect themselves against rising intolerance. Malmö’s once-thriving community has been hollowed out by unchecked immigration and surging hostility, rendering the city virtually uninhabitable for Jews.

With many fleeing to Israel, the UK, or elsewhere in Europe, his message is clear: “I call on people to heed the sad tale of Malmö and tell them the story of what can happen to a Jewish community that is afraid to act, that is paralyzed by fright and that doesn’t take political or financial action in order to defend itself, its community, its way of life and its institutions.”

Conricus sees beyond the immediate horizon, remaining deeply optimistic about the enduring spirit of Israel and the diaspora.

“At the end of the day, I’m very positive looking forward. I’m positive about Israel’s future and positive about our ability to defeat our enemies and continuing, working, thriving as we are and have been in Israel.

“I consider myself very fortunate to have a voice, to be able to fight on behalf of the Jewish people and to have the ability to communicate and sometimes make a difference.”

The Negev gala event begins with a VIP reception at 5:30, followed by the program at 7.

Participants can register for the gala at friendsofjnfca.org/calgarynegev2026/register.asp