Manama: Bahrain has appointed Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Bin Rashed Al Khalifa as its new ambassador to the US.
Shaikh Abdullah was the kingdom’s military attaché in Washington, a post to which he was appointed in June 2005.
A fighter pilot, Shaikh Abdullah joined the Bahrain Royal Air Force in 1988 and had an active role in the Kuwait liberation war in 1991.
He replaces Houda Nonoo, the first Jewish ambassador to the US from an Arab country, who took the posting in 2008.
Nonoo also made history in Bahrain by becoming the first Jewish chairwoman of a human rights society and the first Jewish woman to be appointed to the upper chamber of the bicameral parliament.
Bahrain is home to a small community of Jewish families involved mainly in business activities.
The kingdom’s ambassador to the United Kingdom is a Christian woman, Alice Samaan.
