TL;DR — Born in Qalansawe, an Arab Muslim town in Israel’s Triangle region, Ella Waweya became the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson on 15 February 2026, succeeding Avichay Adraee. A lieutenant colonel, she is the highest-ranking Muslim in the IDF and the first woman to lead the army’s Arabic communications. Known as “Captain Ella,” she has more than half a million TikTok followers and 200,000 on X.
Some life stories capture an entire society. Ella Waweya’s is one of them. On 15 February 2026, a quiet handover ceremony in Tel Aviv changed the face of Israeli military communications: Colonel Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language voice for nearly two decades, passed the role to a 36-year-old woman from an Arab town in central Israel. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, Ella Waweya becomes the highest-ranking Muslim in the Israeli army and the first woman to head its Arabic communications.
Who is Ella Waweya?
She was born on 16 October 1989 in Qalansawe, an Arab Muslim town in Israel’s Triangle region. She grew up at a time when, for many of her neighbours, the Israeli uniform still stood for the adversary. A teenager during the Second Intifada, she watched the conflict through Al Jazeera’s screen. Then came the day, at sixteen, when she was handed her Israeli ID card. One thought stayed with her: she is a citizen of this country. The rest of her life would be a patient answer to that fact.
She was a serious student. She earned a BA with honours in communications from Netanya Academic College, followed by an MA — also with honours — in government and political marketing from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Reichman University). She worked in the media, including radio, and founded the “Shared Life” project dedicated to Arab–Jewish coexistence. After national service at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba in 2011, she made a decision that would upend her life.
A volunteer enlistment, kept secret
In 2013, Ella Waweya volunteered for the IDF — service that Israeli law does not require of the country’s Arab citizens. She became the first female soldier from her region. By her own account she went so far as to collect the keys to the family’s mailboxes, to be sure the army’s letter would reach no eyes but her own. She hid her uniform for nearly a year and a half. In 2015, President Reuven Rivlin awarded her a distinction for excellence as a soldier.
“Captain Ella”: a voice for the Arab world
For seven years, under the name “Captain Ella,” she built a singular presence: an Israeli officer, a Muslim, an Arabic speaker, addressing the Arab world directly in its own language. Today she has more than half a million followers on TikTok and around 200,000 on X. Her work has earned commendations from Israel’s president, defence minister and chief of staff.
She describes a job that is as much interpreter as spokesperson: tailoring each message to its audience. Before an Israeli or open audience, the tone is direct and pedagogical; before a hostile one, it takes firmness, visual proof, presence in the field. She likes to compare her mission to Plato’s allegory of the cave: the prisoners mistake the shadows on the wall for reality. Her role, she says, is not to paint prettier shadows but to testify to what lies outside — even when the outside is hard to look at.
A symbol beyond a single career
Her appointment is bigger than one woman’s path. In Qalansawe, some twenty young people have since followed the road she opened toward the army’s communications units. For them, the IDF is no longer only a hostile rumour: it is also the face of a woman from their own village, in uniform, speaking their language. In succeeding Avichay Adraee, Ella Waweya did not change her name when she changed her rank. The insignia changed. The composure did not.
In a region that too often adds up identities as if they were contradictions, her path says the opposite: one can be Arab, Muslim, Israeli and an officer, without giving up anything. She embodies a rare and unapologetic pride — that of an Arab woman proud to be Israeli, who sees in her citizenship neither betrayal nor surrender, but full belonging. That may be the strongest message she carries, far beyond her official duties.
FAQ
Who is Captain Ella?
Ella Waweya, an Israeli army officer born in 1989 in Qalansawe, known as “Captain Ella.” Since 15 February 2026 she has been the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson.
What is her rank?
Lieutenant colonel. She is the highest-ranking Muslim in the Israeli army.
Whom did she replace?
Colonel Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson for nearly two decades, who stepped down in early 2026.
Why is her path exceptional?
Israel’s Arab citizens are not subject to conscription. She volunteered in 2013, becoming the first female soldier from her region.
By Patrick Lancier
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