Bahrain's king has appointed a Jewish woman as its envoy to Washington - the first Jew in the Arab world to become an ambassador.
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa named lawmaker Houda Nonoo, a 43-year-old mother of two boys, as an ambassador on Wednesday, the official Bahrain News Agency reported Thursday.
The decree did not say where she would be posted. But Nonoo confirmed she will be US ambassador for the tiny Gulf nation. She was widely tipped earlier this year by Bahraini media as next envoy to Washington.
"It is a great honor 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," Nonoo told The Associated Press by telephone. She said she was proud to serve her country "first of all as a Bahraini," adding she was not chosen for the post because of her religion.
Bahrain - a pro-Western island nation with Sunni rulers and a Shiite majority - is a close US ally and hosts the US Navy's 5th Fleet. It has about 50 Jewish citizens among a population of some half a million. Nonoo has served as legislator in Bahrain's all-appointed 40-member Shura Council for three years.