Bahrain named a Jewish woman as its ambassador to Washington.
Houda Nonoo told the Associated Press on Friday that she was proud to be named “first of all as a Bahraini.”
This week’s formal appointment of the 43-year old mother of two follows leaked reports in Arabic language press a month ago.
Nonoo is a member of Bahrain’s all-appointed upper legislature and heads a human rights group in the Persian Gulf island kingdom.
Bahrain is considered to be at the forefront of a democratization push in the Arab world. Its tiny Jewish community of about 50 dates to Talmudic times; Nonoo is descended from Iraqi merchants who migrated in the late 19th century.
