NationStates Jolt Archive


Bahrain appoints Jewish ambassador to US

Mirkana
30-05-2008, 18:47
No, they didn't appoint a special "Jewish Ambassador". They appointed a Jew as their ambassador to the US.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7426806.stm

Bahrain's king has appointed a Jewish woman as the country's envoy to the United States.

Houda Nonoo said she was proud to serve her country "first of all as a Bahraini" and that she was not chosen for the post because of her religion.

She is believed to be the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador.

Ms Nonoo, 43, has served as a legislator in Bahrain's 40-member Shura Council for three years and is head of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch.

"It is a great honour to have been appointed as the first female ambassador to the United States of America and I am looking forward to meeting this new challenge," Ms Nonoo told the Associated Press news agency.

Her family is originally from Iraq, having moved to Bahrain over a century ago.

Bahrain has one of the world's oldest and smallest Jewish communities. It was, at one time, home to as many as 1,500 Jews. Today the community has a synagogue and numbers around 50 people.

Bahrain is a close US ally but has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

It has a Shia Muslim majority, roughly 65% of the population, but the ruling elite is Sunni.


Now, some might think this is a simple gesture. But I have an alternate theory: the woman was singularly qualified for the job. Kudos to King Hamad for having the balls to appoint the best candidate despite her being a Jewish woman.
Khadgar
30-05-2008, 18:50
Wait you mean the ebil m0zlems gave a jew a job? Bizarro world!
Dundee-Fienn
30-05-2008, 18:52
Her family is originally from Iraq, having moved to Bahrain over a century ago.

What an incredibly close connection to Iraq
Khadgar
30-05-2008, 19:15
What an incredibly close connection to Iraq

No different than a casual mention of an American's ancestry.
Zilam
30-05-2008, 19:22
What an incredibly close connection to Iraq

So what you are saying is that we need to invade Bahrain, for having Iraq's wmds?:eek:


(WMD in this case being a woman of mutual diplomacy.)
Call to power
30-05-2008, 19:27
oh sweet Jezus that is not a woman! :eek: (http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44701000/jpg/_44701282_nonoo_ap226b.jpg)

at least she has a sweet name like Miss Nonoo
Sarkhaan
30-05-2008, 19:31
They clearly just wanted to get one of the evil Jews out of their country. Giving her a job in the US was just the easiest way.
Zilam
30-05-2008, 19:33
oh sweet Jezus that is not a woman! :eek: (http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44701000/jpg/_44701282_nonoo_ap226b.jpg)

at least she has a sweet name like Miss Nonoo

No! Noo! Is the proper form of her last name. And with a face like that, its very understandable why.
Call to power
30-05-2008, 19:42
They clearly just wanted to get one of the evil Jews out of their country. Giving her a job in the US was just the easiest way.

I wonder if the last person to have the job was Palestinian ;)

No! Noo! Is the proper form of her last name. And with a face like that, its very understandable why.

can you believe shes not already married!?
Brutland and Norden
30-05-2008, 19:43
Please don't make fun of Miss Nonoo. :(
Anadyr Islands
30-05-2008, 19:47
oh sweet Jezus that is not a woman! :eek: (http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44701000/jpg/_44701282_nonoo_ap226b.jpg)

at least she has a sweet name like Miss Nonoo

Ah, you're too harsh, man. I've seen worse.
Mott Haven
30-05-2008, 19:49
What an incredibly close connection to Iraq


A century? By American standards, her family arrived when dinosaurs walked the earth. By Middle Eastern standards, they haven't unpacked yet.
Call to power
30-05-2008, 19:49
Please don't make fun of Miss Nonoo. :(

Ah, you're too harsh, man. I've seen worse.

Rowan Atkinson fans?
Galloism
30-05-2008, 19:51
Rowan Atkinson fans?

Monty python sketches.
Hachihyaku
30-05-2008, 19:52
Right.
Mott Haven
30-05-2008, 19:55
No, they didn't appoint a special "Jewish Ambassador". They appointed a Jew as their ambassador to the US.



Now, some might think this is a simple gesture. But I have an alternate theory: the woman was singularly qualified for the job. Kudos to King Hamad for having the balls to appoint the best candidate despite her being a Jewish woman.


I'll go with the gesture theory, although in the middle east it's not simple. Ambassador is a very undemanding job these days. It was different in the days before jets and telephones, but now, all the dicey negotiations are done by heads of state talking directly, or with a negotiating team assembled specially for that issue. The ambassador is just for show. She will show up at all the dinner parties, but when Bahrain and the US have to renegotiate a military basing treaty, it's not going to be her. It has nothing to do with her skills. These days, we have lawyers for that and so does Bahrain.

Of course, when she does show up at the dinner party and gets treated with ambassador level protocol, oh, to see the face on the Saudi ambassador...
Nodinia
30-05-2008, 20:58
can you believe shes not already married!?

Shes one of the few women in the middle east actually forbidden to wear a veil. Presumably the whole "Caveat Emptor" thing can only be taken so far...

(Isn't it wonderful to revel in mysogyny now and again....Reminds me of when I used be a builder....)