Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo served as the Bahraini Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2013.
13 Facts About Houda Nonoo
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Houda Nonoo was appointed to the position by decree of Foreign Affairs Minister Khaled Ben Ahmad Al-Khalifa.
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Houda Nonoo is the first Jewish ambassador of any Middle Eastern Arab country, and the first female Bahraini ambassador to the United States.
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Houda Nonoo was born in Manama, to a family of Jewish business entrepreneurs with origins in present-day Iraq.
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Houda Nonoo lived for an extended period of time in the United Kingdom, where she attended Carmel College, a Jewish boarding school, and earned an MBA.
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Houda Nonoo met and married Salman Idafar, a British Jew, with whom she had two sons; Menasheh and Ezra.
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Houda Nonoo's appointment made headlines because Houda is part of the small Jewish community of Bahrain.
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Houda Nonoo is not the first person in her family to enter Bahraini politics, or member of the Jewish community.
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In 1934, her grandfather Abraham Houda Nonoo served as a member of the Manama Municipality, the first ever elected municipal body in Bahrain.
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In 2000, a cousin, Ebrahim Daoud Houda Nonoo was appointed to parliament.
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The Houda Nonoo family is originally from Iraq having moved to Bahrain over a century ago.
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On 3 July 2008, Houda Nonoo was appointed Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States, a role that included responsibility over Bahraini diplomatic representation to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
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Houda Nonoo's role ended in November 2013, when she was replaced by Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Rashed Al Khalifa, until then the military attache of Bahrain in Washington.