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Trailblazing Female Muslim Arab Is IDF Major

(JNS) Etgar Lefkovits - Ella Waweya, 33, the first Muslim Arab woman to become a major in the IDF, is its deputy spokesperson for the Arabic media. She is from the Israeli Arab city of Qalansawe and, from a young age, felt that she wanted to be part of Israeli society. She enrolled in an Israeli college to study communications and volunteered to perform a year of national service, concomitant to her studies, in the emergency room of an Israeli hospital at night. A hospital security guard from the Bedouin minority, who had been in the army, led her to realize that IDF service was a possibility. At a media conference in Eilat, she spoke with then-IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai and the late veteran military correspondent Roni Daniel, who heard her say she wished she could join the IDF. Two days later, Waweya was summoned for an interview at the IDF Spokesperson's office in Tel Aviv and was accepted to work in the military's press office at age 24. A year and a half later, she enrolled in officer's training and was selected as an outstanding soldier who would be honored by the president. Several dozen people from her city were inspired to either enlist or perform national service. Nearly 400 Muslim Arabs including Bedouin enlisted in the IDF last year.
2023-01-05 00:00:00
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