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Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo (; born 7 September 1964) is a Bahrain politician who served as the Bahraini Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2013. She was appointed to the position by Foreign Affairs Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. Nonoo is the first Jew, and the third woman, to be appointed ambassador of Bahrain. She is also the first Jewish ambassador of any Middle Eastern Arab world, "Bahreïn persiste et signe", Radio Canada, June 8, 2008 "Une juive ambassadrice d'un pays arabe", Radio Canada, May 31, 2008 and the first female Bahraini ambassador to the United States.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121803642.html?noredirect=on "Barrier-Breaking Bahraini Masters Diplomatic Scene"], ''The Washington Post'', December 19, 2008.
Nonoo lived for an extended period of time in the United Kingdom, where she attended Carmel College, a Jewish boarding school, and earned an MBA. She also met and married Salman Idafar, Bahrain protests have complicated job for Houda Nonoo, first Jewish ambassador from an Arab nation. The Washington Post a British Jew, with whom she had two sons; Menasheh Idafar and Ezra. After her father died in a car accident, she returned to Bahrain to take over the Basma Company, a company offering different office services, from IT Message from the Director. Gulf Computer Services to janitoring, hence becoming a successful businesswoman after inheriting the family's business.
Prior to her appointment to the Majlis al-shura in 2005, Houda Nonoo . Wise Muslim Women - Women of other Faiths she founded in 2004 and presided over the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, a society for the advancement of women's rights as well as of foreign workers in Bahrain. For a total of three years served as a member of parliament (40-member Shura Council), after being appointed by King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah. Her appointment made headlines because Houda is part of the small Jewish community of Bahrain. Bahrain's Jewish community reportedly consists of just 37 people, most of whom are the descendants of immigrants from Iraq and Iran. Nonoo is not the first person in her family to enter politics, or member of the community. In 1934, her grandfather Abraham Nonoo served as a member of the Manama Municipality, the first ever elected municipal body in Bahrain.Nancy Elly Khedourie, From Our Beginning to Present Day (Al Manar Press: 2007) p. 78 In 2000, a cousin, Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo was appointed to parliament. The Nonoo family is originally from Iraq having moved to Bahrain over a century ago.
During her term as ambassador, she made quite a few changes at the embassy, like changing the iftar from all-male gatherings to mixed-gender events with lectures on Islam and also introduced and interfaith reunions with local imams, rabbis and Christian clergy as guests.
Her role ended in November 2013, when she was replaced by Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Rashed Al Khalifa, until then the military attaché of Bahrain in Washington.
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