Senior female Muslim officer tapped as next IDF Arabic-language spokesperson

Maj. Ella Waweya, known as ‘Captain Ella,’ to replace Col. Avichay Adraee in coming weeks

By Emanuel Fabian

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3 February 2026, 12:51 pm

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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Military spokesperson Maj. Ella Waweya in an undated portrait. (Israel Defense Forces)

Maj. Ella Waweya was selected on Tuesday by the military to replace Col. Avichay Adraee as the Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic-language spokesperson.

Waweya, 36, who is known as “Captain Ella,” is among the most senior female Arab Muslim officers in the military.

She was born in the central Arab town of Qalansawe and joined the IDF voluntarily in 2013, initially hiding her service from her family.

Currently, Waweya serves as Adraee’s deputy and boasts more than half a million followers on TikTok and 170,000 on X.

Adraee, who served as the Arabic-language spokesman for the past 20 years, was set to retire.

Waweya would be promoted to lieutenant colonel, and a handover ceremony was expected to take place in the coming weeks.

Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, during a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset, March 2, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Adraee had become a familiar face during the ongoing war, particularly due to the military’s use of his social media pages to issue evacuation warnings ahead of strikes in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Yemen, and even Iran.

With millions of followers across his social media accounts and hundreds of interviews on Arabic-language media channels, including Al Jazeera, Adraee became the IDF’s face — and somewhat of a celebrity — in the Arab world.