{{Short description|Bahraini diplomat (born 1964)}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Nonoo with Bush 2008-07-28.jpg | image_size = 100px | caption = Nonoo as Bahraini ambassador to the United States | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|9|7|df=yes}} | name = Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo | office = Bahraini ambassador to the United States | term_start = 3 July 2008 | term_end = 15 November 2013 | successor = Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Rashed Al Khalifa | office2 = Majlis al-shura | term_start2 = 2005 | term_end2 = 3 July 2008 | successor2 = Nancy Khedouri | constituency = | spouse = Salman Idafar | children = Menasheh Idafar, Ezra Idafar | relatives = Misha Nonoo (cousin) }}
'''Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo''' ({{langx|ar|هدى عزرا نونو}}; born 7 September 1964) is a Bahraini 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 country,<ref name="Bahreïn persiste">[http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/International/2008/06/08/006-bahrein-diplomatie.shtml "Bahreïn persiste et signe"], Radio Canada, June 8, 2008</ref><ref name="radio-canada.ca">[http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/International/2008/05/31/004-Bahrein-juive.shtml "Une juive ambassadrice d'un pays arabe"], Radio Canada, May 31, 2008</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7426806.stm|title=Bahrain names Jewish ambassador|publisher=BBC News |date=2008-05-30|access-date=2008-05-30|last=|first=}}</ref> and the first female Bahraini ambassador to the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988420.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530103650/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988420.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 30, 2008|title=Bahraini king taps Jewish woman lawmaker as envoy to U.S.|publisher=Haaretz|date=2008-06-08 |access-date=2008-05-29|last=|first=}}</ref>
==Biography== Nonoo was born in Manama, to a family of Jewish business entrepreneurs with origins in present-day Iraq. Nonoo's grandfather Ibrahim left Baghdad in 1888 and started a financial business in Bahrain.<ref>Menachem Wecker, [https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/arab-world%E2%80%99s-jewish-ambassador "The Arab World’s Jewish Ambassador"], ''George Washington Today'', February 1, 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=26 October 2009 |title=Meet Arab nation's Jewish ambassador |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2009-10-houda_ezra_ebrahim_nonoo_bahra-story.html |website=baltimoresun.com}}</ref><ref>Nora Boustany. [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.</ref>
Nonoo lived for an extended period of time in the United Kingdom, where she attended Carmel College, a Jewish boarding school,<ref name="Round">{{cite news|date= 4 December 2008|access-date = 6 May 2020|author= Round, Simon|url=https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/interviews/interview-houda-nonoo-1.6547|title= Interview: Houda Nonoo|work= The Jewish Chronicle}}</ref> and earned an MBA. She also met and married Salman Idafar,<ref name="WPOST">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/bahrain-protests-have-complicated-job-for-houda-nonoo-first-jewish-ambassador-from-an-arab-nation/2012/05/22/gJQA2v9SnU_story.html Bahrain protests have complicated job for Houda Nonoo, first Jewish ambassador from an Arab nation]. The Washington Post</ref> a British Jew, with whom she had two sons; Menasheh and Ezra. After her father died in a car accident, she returned to Bahrain to take over the Basma Company,<ref>{{cite web |date=7 December 2014 |title=Meet Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, First Jewish Ambassador from Arab Country |url=http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2014/12/07/meet-houda-ezra-ebrahim-nonoo-first-jewish-ambassador-from-arab-country/ |website=jewishbusinessnews.com |publisher=}}</ref> a company offering different office services, from IT<ref>[http://www.gulfcomputerservices.com/about.php Message from the Director]. Gulf Computer Services</ref> to janitoring, hence becoming a successful businesswoman after inheriting the family's business.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1.5136407|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225205557/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1.5136407|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 25, 2018|title=Meet Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, Bahrain's Jewish U.S. Ambassador|date=14 March 2011|publisher=|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>
Prior to her appointment to the ''Majlis al-shura'' in 2005,<ref>[http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/womenotherfaiths/bio/houda_nonoo/ Houda Nonoo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821184036/http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/womenotherfaiths/bio/houda_nonoo/ |date=2016-08-21 }}. Wise Muslim Women - Women of other Faiths</ref> she founded in 2004 and presided over the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, a society for the advancement of women's rights<ref>{{cite web |title=Arab Spring, Israel and Bahrain's 38 Jews in the eyes of Jewish ambassador to U.S. |url=http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2013/4/8/arab-spring-israel-and-bahrains-38-jews-in-the-eyes-of-jewish-ambassador-to-us#.V4qhcq3ly4o= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107020850/http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2013/4/8/arab-spring-israel-and-bahrains-38-jews-in-the-eyes-of-jewish-ambassador-to-us#.V4qhcq3ly4o= |archive-date=2017-11-07 |access-date=2016-07-16 |publisher=Jewish News Service}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Bahreïn persiste" /><ref name="radio-canada.ca"/> Nonoo is not the first person in her family to enter Bahraini politics, or member of the Jewish community. In 1934, her grandfather Abraham Nonoo served as a member of the Manama Municipality, the first ever elected municipal body in Bahrain.<ref>Nancy Elly Khedourie, From Our Beginning to Present Day (Al Manar Press: 2007) p. 78</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/2/1019749 |script-title=he:בחריין: יהודיה תכהן בפרלמנט |publisher=Walla! |date=6 December 2006 |access-date=2006-12-07 |language=he}}</ref>
==Appointment as ambassador to the United States== On 3 July 2008, Nonoo was appointed Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States, a role that also included responsibility over Bahraini diplomatic representation to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina (non-resident). Some local media criticized the appointment,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL0826684820080608_1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205347/https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL0826684820080608_1|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-03-03|title=Bahrain picks Jew as U.S. envoy, local media critical|publisher=Reuters|date=2008-05-08 |access-date=2010-10-27}}</ref> and Radio Canada reported that her nomination was controversial within Bahrain{{Dubious|date=June 2025}}, with some suggesting that a Jew might not be the best choice to defend Bahrain's refusal to recognise Israel. King Al-Khalifa rejected these concerns.<ref name="Bahreïn persiste" />
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.<ref name="WPOST" />
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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chief |first=Habib Toumi, Bureau |date=15 November 2013 |title=Bahrain appoints new ambassador in Washington |url=http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/bahrain-appoints-new-ambassador-in-washington-1.1255302 |website=gulfnews.com |publisher=}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.bahrainembassy.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=section.home&id=7 Official embassy bio] {{Feminism}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nonoo, Houda}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century diplomats Category:21st-century Bahraini politicians Category:Alumni of London Guildhall University Category:Alumni of London Metropolitan University Category:Ambassadors of Bahrain to the United States Category:Bahraini feminists Category:Bahraini Jews Category:Bahraini people of Iraqi-Jewish descent Category:Bahraini women diplomats Category:Bahraini women in politics Category:Bahraini women's rights activists Category:Jewish Bahraini politicians Category:Jewish feminists Category:Members of the Consultative Council (Bahrain) Category:Women ambassadors of Bahrain Category:21st-century Bahraini women politicians