In a bold move that reverberated through the international media, the King of Bahrain, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, appointed Houda Ezra Nonoo, a Jewish woman, to the post of U.S. Ambassador on July 3, 2008. Nonoo is one of only 37 Jewish citizens living in Bahrain.

 

Nonoo earned her B.A. in accounting from the City of London Polytechnic in 1986, and her MBA from the International University of Europe in Waterford, UK in 1988. Beginning in 1993 she was the managing director of Gulf Computer Services, a company in Manama selling computers and computer accessories.

 

Nonoo is one of the founding members of Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (established November 2004) and was elected its General Secretary in September, 2005. In December 2006 Nonoo was appointed to the Shura Council, where she served on the Committee for Finance and Economic Affairs until her appointment as Ambassador in 2008.

 

Houda Ezra Nonoo’s Official Biography

Bahrain picks Jew as U.S. envoy, local media critical (by Mohammed Abbas, Reuters)