Ella Waweya, a spokesperson for the Israeli army. (Credit: screenshot from X/@CaptainElla1)
The Arab world will have to get used to a new face. Commander Ella Waweya of the Israeli army, who calls herself “Captain Ella” on her social media, was appointed on Tuesday to replace Avichay Adraee as the official Arabic-language spokesperson of the Israeli armed forces, according to Israeli media reports. Head of the Arab media bureau of the Israeli army and, until now, deputy to Avichay Adraee, Ella Waouia is expected to take up her new role “in the coming weeks,” according to the Times of Israel. She will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel as soon as she assumes her duties.
At 36, she is among the highest-ranking female Muslim Arab officers in the army, according to Israeli media. She was born in the predominantly Arab city of Qalansuwa, in central Israel, and is thus part of the Israeli Arab minority, who are descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land when Israel was established in 1948. This minority makes up about 20 percent of the country's population but is largely underrepresented in the army.
She enlisted in the Israeli army in 2013 at the age of 24, “initially hiding her service from her family,” according to several media outlets. She immediately joined the spokesperson's office, according to AFP.
“Captain Ella” had already addressed Lebanese people on several occasions, including during the cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, after the Shiite pro-Iranian party opened the “support front” in Gaza the day after the Oct. 7 attack. “Hezbollah is digging tunnels while the Lebanese people live without electricity, facing a difficult and unstable reality,” the Israeli spokesperson said in Aug. 2024, when she addressed the “strong women of Lebanon.”
With more than 170,000 followers on X and half a million on TikTok, she already posts warnings, maps and other information, and launched her “Captain Ella” platform seven years ago, according to Haaretz, but she isn't as well known than Adraee.
Adraee had held the spokesperson post since 2006. His maternal grandparents were from Iraq and, on his father's side, from Turkey and Syria. He played a key role in what the Israeli army calls its “operational media strategy,” addressing Arabic-speaking populations in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Yemen, especially since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023. He regularly broadcast evacuation maps and warnings ahead of Israeli army strikes in Gaza and Lebanon. His communications also sometimes targeted audiences in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Iran as part of a broader effort to extend Israeli media influence in the region.
The Israeli press had already mentioned his replacement in early November. According to Maariv, three candidates were then being evaluated to succeed him, including camera performance tests.
