Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo is named as Bahrain’s next Ambassador to the United States. Bahrain has long enjoyed close diplomatic ties with America so the appointment of a new Ambassador is not unusual - usually.
This appointment is historic for a couple of reasons. First Ambassador Huda is a woman. Rarely do Islamic States send women as their envoys to foreign powers. Secondly, and even more unusual is that Ambassador Huda is Jewish. She comes from that small Jewish population that remains in otherwise Arab Bahrain.
There has been a small Jewish population in many of the Arab states for hundreds if not thousands of years. Most have long departed for Israel due to persecution by their Muslim neighbors. Bahrain has been an enclave of religious freedom in the region. Many of the Jewish families there emigrated from Iraq over the last several hundred years. Her family came in the later part of the 19th century. In 1948, there were anti-Jewish riots in Bahrain, as in many places in the region. Most of the Jewish population left at that time but a number of families did not. The trading family known as the Nonoo family decided to stay.
The head of the family today is Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, who is the Ambassador’s grandfather and head of the Basma Company. This large trading conglomerate markets equipment, cleaning services, and security services to other firms in the region.
Huda, a businesswoman herself, was the first Jewish woman to sit on Bahrain’s Shura Council, a 40-member consultative body that is the upper house of the bicameral legislature. She replaced her uncle. A Christian woman, Alice Sama’an, also sits on the Shura council which interestingly enough has 11 women, compared with only one elected woman MP, Lateefa Al Gaood, in the 40-member lower house.
Ambassador Huda also is the first Jewish woman to head a National level Human rights organization - the Bahrain Human Rights Watch. She is its secretary-general.
Bahrain is one of the top countries in the Arab world when it comes human development and providing educational opportunities to women, according to a United Nations report. The Arab Human Development Report 2005 classed Bahrain as a country of high human development and ranked it 43rd in the world Human Development Index (HDI).
Bahrain’s government insists it is not trying to send a message to America with the appointment and that the Ambassador was picked based on her extensive talents. Bahrain has many talented people and is at the forefront of using the talents of its female population. In this case, I think Bahrain has chosen wisely.
This appointment is historic for a couple of reasons. First Ambassador Huda is a woman. Rarely do Islamic States send women as their envoys to foreign powers. Secondly, and even more unusual is that Ambassador Huda is Jewish. She comes from that small Jewish population that remains in otherwise Arab Bahrain.
There has been a small Jewish population in many of the Arab states for hundreds if not thousands of years. Most have long departed for Israel due to persecution by their Muslim neighbors. Bahrain has been an enclave of religious freedom in the region. Many of the Jewish families there emigrated from Iraq over the last several hundred years. Her family came in the later part of the 19th century. In 1948, there were anti-Jewish riots in Bahrain, as in many places in the region. Most of the Jewish population left at that time but a number of families did not. The trading family known as the Nonoo family decided to stay.
The head of the family today is Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, who is the Ambassador’s grandfather and head of the Basma Company. This large trading conglomerate markets equipment, cleaning services, and security services to other firms in the region.
Huda, a businesswoman herself, was the first Jewish woman to sit on Bahrain’s Shura Council, a 40-member consultative body that is the upper house of the bicameral legislature. She replaced her uncle. A Christian woman, Alice Sama’an, also sits on the Shura council which interestingly enough has 11 women, compared with only one elected woman MP, Lateefa Al Gaood, in the 40-member lower house.
Ambassador Huda also is the first Jewish woman to head a National level Human rights organization - the Bahrain Human Rights Watch. She is its secretary-general.
Bahrain is one of the top countries in the Arab world when it comes human development and providing educational opportunities to women, according to a United Nations report. The Arab Human Development Report 2005 classed Bahrain as a country of high human development and ranked it 43rd in the world Human Development Index (HDI).
Bahrain’s government insists it is not trying to send a message to America with the appointment and that the Ambassador was picked based on her extensive talents. Bahrain has many talented people and is at the forefront of using the talents of its female population. In this case, I think Bahrain has chosen wisely.
