The New Middle East with Ambassador Houda Nonoo, the First and Only Jewish Ambassador from an Arab Country

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[TEXT] TOURO TALKS TOURO UNIVERSITY, The New Middle East, June 20, 2021, Touro Talks is sponsored by Robert and Arlene Rosenberg

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[DESCRIPTION] President Alan Kadish speaks to the camera in a library setting, with his name on the bottom left and the Touro University logo on the bottom right.

[TEXT] Dr. Alan Kadish

[Alan Kadish] Great to be here with Ambassador Nonoo. As Nahum mentioned, Ambassador Nonoo is a member of the small but vibrant Jewish community of Bahrain. She currently serves as ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She previously served as Ambassador Extraordinary of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Washington, DC, and Nonresident Ambassador to Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico.

Prior to joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was appointed to the Shura Council, which is the upper house of the Bahraini parliament, where she served on the Committee for Finance and Economic Affairs between 2006 and 2008. She's quite busy otherwise. Despite in addition to working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she's a member of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce, a founding member of the Bahrain Association for Child Safety, a founding member of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, where she also served as general Secretary from 2005 to 2008.

Ambassador Nonoo is head of the Bahrain Businesswomen's Society's Advisory and International Relations Committee. She's also a member of the Board of Trustees and Treasurer for the House of the Ten Commandments, which is the Jewish community of Bahrain and a Board Member of the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities. It's been an interesting time in the relationships of Bahrain and the Jewish community, as you all know, and so it's an absolute pleasure to have Ambassador Nonoo with us.

Welcome, Ambassador Nonoo.

[DESCRIPTION] Ambassador Houda Nonoo speaks to the camera with a plain background, with her name on the bottom left and the Touro University logo on the bottom right.

[TEXT] Ambassador Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Thank you. And thank you, Dr. Kadish, for the opportunity today to discuss the new Middle East with you.

[Alan Kadish] So it's a pleasure. First, before we get to the Middle East, tell us about your background and how you entered government service in Bahrain.

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] So thank you, Dr. Kadish. Many of you may have only recently heard of Bahrain following the announcement of September 11, 2020, that our country would be signing the Abraham Accords and establishing relations with Israel. But what you may not know is that Bahrain has a deep-rooted history as being a center of Jewish life in the Gulf.

Bahrain is the Arabic term for two seas, which refers to the freshwater springs that are found within the salty seas surrounding it. The Kingdom is comprised of a collection of 33 islands on the Western side of the Arabian Gulf, linked to Saudi Arabia by a causeway. With a population of 1.7 million, Bahrain has a total area of approximately 300 square miles. Sitting astride an important trading route, Bahrain has always been a crossroads for centuries.

It is the third smallest country in Asia. But while we might be small in size, we offer tremendous business opportunities and a wonderful quality of life. Bahrain, an island long known for its tolerance, coexistence, and freedom of religion, has always welcomed people from different faiths and backgrounds to its shores.

Modern Jewish life in Bahrain began in the 1880s, when Jews from Iraq were looking for better economic and living prospects and decided to leave for India. On the way, the boat stopped in Bahrain. They liked what they saw and decided to stay.

Since then, Jewish life in the Kingdom has flourished. Many of our families were traders and started their own textiles, electronics, and money exchange businesses. Others worked for the oil companies, banks, and schools.

In 1934, Abraham Pincus Nonoo, my paternal grandfather, was elected into the Municipality Council. He was the first of many Bahraini youths to serve in government positions. His grandson Abraham was appointed to the Shura Council, which is the upper house of parliament in 2001. I was appointed in 2006. And Nancy Khedouri was appointed in 2010.

Our Bahraini Jewish families have always lived alongside Bahraini Muslim families. Our grandparents shared stories of their neighbors helping to heat their food on Shabbat. Generations later, we naturally continue to celebrate important events together, including attending each other's weddings, our participation in their iftar meals, and their visits to our recently renovated synagogue.

Under His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's leadership, Bahrain has been committed to spreading a culture of peace, dialogue, and coexistence. These values are inculcated within us as young children, and they guide how we live as adults. Growing up in Bahrain, everyone knew we were Jewish. I went to a Catholic school and was taught by nuns.

My friends were of different religions and backgrounds, and we grew up respecting each other's differences. I never felt the need to hide my religion. We celebrated together our major holidays like Ramadan, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Christmas. Our community is flourishing. We are blessed to live in an Arab country that provides equal opportunities to us, as it does to citizens and residents of all religious backgrounds.

Over the years, many have asked me what it was like to be appointed as the first Jewish ambassador from an Arab country. The truth is that none Bahrainis are more surprised by my appointment than Bahrainis are because His Majesty has always supported equal rights and opportunities for people of all faiths. It did not strike me as odd that someone from the Jewish faith would be appointed to this position.

On April 24, 2008, at 3:17 PM, I received a call from Bahrain's former Foreign Minister, His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who informed me that His Majesty the King was nominating me to serve as Bahrain's ambassador to the United States. It was a historic moment for Bahrain as it appointed its third female ambassador, its first female ambassador to the US, and became the first country, a first Arab country, to appoint a Jewish ambassador. I arrived in DC in July of 2008 and was also the Nonresident Ambassador to Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico.

During my time as ambassador, I was involved in interreligious dialogues and hosted many events, bringing people together from other religions and ethnicities. A lot of people were amazed to find that the ambassador representing Bahrain was a woman and could not fathom how I could be Arab and Jewish at the same time. As a citizen of this region, I am filled with excitement to see the construction of a new Middle East, one focused on coexistence and prosperity. I was honored when foreign minister, His Excellency Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, invited me to be part of his delegation to the White House signing ceremony on September the 15th.

While 2020 was historic for Bahrain and Israel, I have always felt that 2021 would be even better as we begin to feel its influence. In Bahrain, we see a few areas of opportunity resulting from the new Bahrain Israel relationship, including oil and gas, logistics, information, cybersecurity, technology, manufacturing, financial services, health care, education, and travel and tourism.

2020 was a difficult year for all of us as we continued to battle the pandemic sweeping across the world. However, 2020 was also a historic one in a positive way. It's when Bahrain, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates decided to pave the path forward for a bold vision of the new Middle East. During this time, the world has shifted on its axis in a very positive way.

Amid the world dealing with so many difficult issues, a pandemic, economic challenges, social unrest, the Middle East gives us all a ray of hope. I hope that we will have the opportunity during our conversation to discuss my first trip to Israel, which happened last November. I was so delighted to have had the chance to be there. It was the manifestation of a dream that I had dreamed since I was a young child, and in November, it became a reality.

As we embarked on the flight back to Manama, I thought about how one of the drivers for the Abraham Accords was to create a better future for our children, yours and mine. We are setting an example for them that focuses on building relationships, not walls, one which reminds them that we are stronger together.

It reminds me of a beautiful story from King David's book of Psalms. In Psalm 126, we read, "When God will return us to Zion, we will be like dreamers. Our sages ask, what is the reason we should be like dreamers? Isn't reality good enough? And the answer offers a touching insight."

Too often when we anticipate something, when we picture what will be, our imagination builds it up so much that the reality is bound to disappoint. But King David tells us, when we return to Zion, to the Homeland of our ancient tribes and where our history was born, the reality will glow with the same bright colors and beauty we imagined in our dreams.

Before the Accords were announced, my cousin Abraham, the president of the Jewish community, and I had already discussed renovating our shul, as we had begun seeing more and more Jewish tourists come to visit Bahrain. And they wanted to see the shul, which is the oldest in the Gulf.

The renovations began in March of 2020 and were completed in February of 2021. Right before Pesach, the House of Ten Commandments opened its doors, although not officially due to COVID restrictions. Since then, we have hosted many Jewish and Israeli tourists and delegations. We have had the honor of bringing the Torah scroll that was commissioned in the name of His Majesty to our shul.

The Ritz-Carlton in Manama was the first hotel in the country to announce a kosher offering. It is in the process of renovating one of its kitchens, which will have a full-time mashgiach. Other hotels have prepackaged meals available for kosher tourists. Our Jewish community is looking forward to welcoming you and giving you a tour of our shul and the Jewish cemetery, the only operational one in the AGJC.

I've always enjoyed connecting with people, and after the Abraham Accords, I received many inquiries from media and Jews around the world asking me what this time meant for me, for our community, and asking to learn more about Bahrain and our Jewish community. This became the impetus for me to rejoin Twitter, and in many ways, the response was even more than I anticipated.

Many of the questions I received centered around a common theme, what is it like being Jewish in Bahrain? While I could continue to answer those questions, I wanted to do more and to show just how accepting Bahrain is of our religion. I was inspired to create the Shabbat Shalom series, where each Friday I bring traditionally Jewish items, like my Shabbat candles and kiddush cup and the now famous Kedem bottle of grape juice, and take a bottle of them with Bahraini landmarks, such as the Tree of Life in the King Fahad causeway, which links Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

And I have a few other locations scattered already, so feel free to join along. So far, these two words, Shabbat Shalom, have created a buzz and have reached more than 1.8 million people-- that's more than the population of Bahrain-- from all over the world, who wish each other Shabbat Shalom because of these tweets. The feedback has been amazing. Jews, Muslims, and Christians from all over the world, US, UK, Europe, the Gulf, Israel, other Middle Eastern countries, and Asia, all replying with the Shabbat Shalom greeting of their own and learning about Bahrain at the same time.

My hope is that as more people are vaccinated, that they will come visit Bahrain in person and experience these sights for themselves. But until then, I'll continue to enjoy sharing these little slices of Bahrain with you all. Before Pesach, I tweeted a picture of the matzo that my mother bakes every year. The photo was shared all over the world and brought to the fore how lively Jewish life has always been here, even before the Abraham Accords.

As we embark on a new era in the Bahrain-Israel relationship, it's important to remember that at the core of this agreement is the desire to create a new Middle East, one built on peace and prosperity for all. I believe that the growing partnerships between Bahrain and Israel will lead to a sustainable peace in the region. We look forward to welcoming you, whether individually, with your families, or as a delegation to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

[Alan Kadish] Thank you so much. I mean, what an inspiring and great story. So we very much appreciate your joining us.

And you really answered the first question with your presentation. I just have one piece of it that I just wanted to ask you about. Had you always thought about entering government service? Because it happened, it seems, relatively suddenly.

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] It did happen suddenly. So basically, I always wanted to give back something to Bahrain. Bahrain has given us so much and has always had so much to offer us. So in 2004, a few friends and myself, we started the organization The Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, and we were focusing on rights of women, domestic workers, and children.

I was elected the Secretary General and was thrust on the national stage, addressing these issues. His Majesty was appreciative for the impact that it had, and he appointed me in the Shura Council in 2006, where I served on the Economic and the Financial Committee.

And in 2008, like I said, I got the phone call that I was nominated as the ambassador of Bahrain to Washington, DC. It was an honor to serve my country. And it helped me to give back even more, being an ambassador, because I could really show-- I show what Bahrain was all about. So it was never in my plans to enter into politics. But it happened, and I'm glad that it happened.

[Alan Kadish] I think lots of people are. So let me ask you. You made history, as was mentioned, that you were the first Jewish ambassador from an Arab country. So what was that experience like? Was there anything unique about it? And how was your experience there?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Not only the first, but after 12 years, I'm still the only Jewish ambassador from an Arab country. So when I was appointed, the headlines in the media read, "A Jewish Female Nominated as an Ambassador to the United States of America." They forgot the fact that I was Bahraini.

So I called out to the media, and I said, yes, I am Jewish. Yes, I am female. But I am also Bahraini. So the headlines changed to Bahraini-Jewish female, which is exactly what I am.

I think, like I said before, that the non-Bahrainis were actually more surprised than the Bahrainis when I was appointed. And when I arrived in the United States, a lot of people would look at me and not fathom how I could be Arab and Jewish at the same time. It was very, very difficult to get that point.

And I used to say to them, Judaism started within the Middle East. So it's something that is very-- to me, it doesn't feel that I have to hide that I am Arab or that I am Jewish. I am both at the same time.

When I was in the States, I met with a lot of the American-Jewish communities. I celebrated our festivals with them. And coming from a small community that is less than 50 people and going to the American Jewish community and I was with different people all the time, it was just truly remarkable.

I'll tell you a funny story. So I had a reception at the embassy, and there was about 400 people in this reception. And this gentleman comes up to me, and he asks me if I worked in the embassy. And I said, yes, I do.

And then he goes to me, I have to tell you something. I said, go ahead. He goes to me, I'm the only Jewish person in this room. And I looked at him, and I said, no, you're not, because I'm also Jewish.

And he goes to me, you just told me that you work for the embassy. How can you be Jewish? So I related our story of Bahrain, of how we are a small community in Bahrain and how we all live together and how we coexist.

And he just couldn't grasp it. He goes away. He comes back to me about 10 minutes later. And he goes to me, so what do you do at the embassy? So I said to him, I'm the ambassador here. So he goes, how did you get the job? Are you married to the King?

[Alan Kadish] [LAUGHS]

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] So I said to him, no, I'm not married to the King. We have equal opportunities in Bahrain. And this is how I came to be here. Not a day actually goes by that I don't think of what it meant for me to have represented Bahrain as its first Jewish ambassador and making history at the same time. It's just an amazing feeling.

[Alan Kadish] That's great. How did the ambassadors from other Arab countries relate to you when you arrived in Washington?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] I was nominated in April. I arrived in the States in July, end of July. And I presented my credentials to President Bush. And the very next day, we had the Arab League meeting.

I did not have a chance to call on the other ambassadors, so it my first time that we would actually get to see each other. So I go to the Arab League meeting.

I walk into this room, and there's a very long table. And everybody was already sitting around it. So I wasn't sure whether I should introduce myself or what I should do. So I just went to the corner of the table and just sat down.

The ambassador at the time of the Arab League was Ambassador Hussein Hassouna. And he was sitting next to the Omani ambassador, Ambassador al-Mutairi. And he asked her if she knew who I was, and she said no.

So to figure out who I was, they basically sent the form for signing that everyone was attending. And it came around, and it went back to Ambassador Hussein Hassouna. And then Ambassador Hussein said, and I have the pleasure of introducing the ambassador from Bahrain who is here with us today.

So that's how I got to be introduced to the ambassadors. When I arrived, there was only one other female ambassador who was from Amman. So it was a room of old gentlemen. A few years later, we had the ambassador from Jordan, and now currently there's the ambassador from Saudi Arabia as well who's female.

The ambassador of Amman and the Syrian ambassador at the time had welcome dinners for me. All the ambassadors, without exception, actually made me feel comfortable serving with them. I worked very closely with the Saudi ambassador, with the Emirati and the Omani ambassadors. And there was a lot of things that we actually did together.

And to this day, I am lucky to have many of them as my friends. And many of them are actually very supportive of the Association of Gulf Jewish communities, which I hope I will have a chance to discuss later with you.

[Alan Kadish] So do you feel that being Jewish had any impact on your relationship with them? Or was it really just a non-issue?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] It was a non-issue. My religion was actually not an inhibitor. I think what brought us together was more than the religion. It was being from the same region and having the same cultural background and knowing each other on that basis. The religion was not an issue at all.

[Alan Kadish] Fascinating. So obviously, you talked a little bit about the new Middle East and the Abraham Accords. So was this a surprise to you? Had this been going on for a while? Were there signs that it was going to happen? From your point of view, how did it all develop?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Yes, there were signs. And as they say, hindsight is 2020. And ironically, it actually happened in 2020.

So if we look back all the way to 2008, I can give you a few examples. So for instance, in 2008, in the speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, former Foreign Minister, His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, stated-- and I'm going to read his quote-- "In order for the Middle east to enjoy stable and lasting peace, it is incumbent upon us to re-evaluate our outlook on the region and to consider the possibility of developing new regional frameworks to address and overcome long-standing challenges. Now is the time, for example, to consider the establishment of an organization that will include all states of the Middle East, without exception, to discuss long-standing issues openly and frankly in the hope of reaching a stable and durable understanding between all parties.

As Arabs, we accept peace as a strategic option. We are committed to international legitimacy, ending all conflicts and hostilities, and beginning a new chapter for a historic rapprochement between the peoples of the region that will lead toward a better future, characterized by understanding stability and prosperity." When he was actually asked in the interviews which states he was referring to he specified Israel, Turkey, and Iran.

Another example was in 2009, when Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa wrote an op ed, which was published by the Washington Post, where he said, "We need fresh thinking if the Arab Peace Initiative is to have the impact it deserves on the crisis that needlessly impoverishes Palestinians and endangers Israel's security."

He pointed out that the crisis is not a zero sum game. For one side to win, the other does not have to lose. He closed the piece by saying, "The two communities in the Holy Land are not fated to be enemies. What can unite them tomorrow is potentially bigger than what divides them today." He was the first AGJC leader to say that we needed to speak directly to the Israeli people.

In 2017, after US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, an interfaith mission from the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence traveled from Bahrain to Israel. It was the first delegation to do so from any Gulf state.

In November 2018, Israel's economy minister Eli Cohen was invited by the Bahrain government to participate in a conference on modern technology in Manama. And in April 2019, a delegation from Israel's foreign ministry was also invited in Manama to participate in a conference on entrepreneurship.

Just two months later in June, Bahrain hosted the White House's Peace to Prosperity Workshop. It was during that very conference that we held the first minyan in our shul in decades. In fact, it was the first during my lifetime.

Participants were high-level Americans who would later learn were the architects of the Abraham Accords, such as Aryeh Lightstone, Avi Berkowitz, and Jason Greenblatt. The following month in July, His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who was the foreign minister at the time, met with Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz, in Washington, DC. These are just some examples, but it shows that Bahrain was primed for this and was always a question of when, not if.

[Alan Kadish] So I gather you weren't then really surprised. It was just a question of when it would happen.

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Absolutely. We knew it was going to happen. It was just when, yes. It was just a time, was the day to be set.

[Alan Kadish] So what was it like for the Jewish community of Bahrain when the Abraham Accords were announced? Did it have an impact on the community?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Absolutely. So when the announcement was actually made in August that the UAE was signing the Abraham Accords, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that Bahrain wasn't first. But knowing what we have on the ground, somebody else had to be out there before us. And like I said before, there were so many markers that there was something was going to happen.

So in a month later, President Trump announced that Bahrain would also be signing the Abraham Accords. It was a combination of shock and excitement that it was actually happening. Even though the UAE were the first, I feel it has more significance for Bahrain being the only country that has Jews as its citizens, the only country with an Indigenous Jewish community and not an expatriate Jewish community in the Gulf.

I feel that so many opportunities have opened for us as a community, and one of the main ones being that we can now visit our extended family in Israel, that number around 600 people. So there's a lot that has happened for us. And we're also excited that we're able to now visit, hopefully COVID permitting, very soon to Israel.

We are planning to start our flights. We were supposed to start in January and then that got pushed because of COVID restrictions. That got pushed to June. And now we're hoping to start our direct flights from Gulf Air on August the 5th. So it's a 2.5 hour flight from Bahrain to Israel, so that would be absolutely amazing.

[Alan Kadish] So you mentioned that just recently you had your first visit to Israel. So first tell me a little bit about what that was like. Did you get a chance to see any relatives and whether you plan to return?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] I was honored to have received the call from the foreign minister's office to actually say that I was part of that first delegation to Israel. I can still pinch myself and not believe that it actually happened. We flew our national carrier, Gulf Air. The flight number was 972 on the way to Israel and flight 973 on the way back.

And the significance of these numbers is that it's actually the country codes. So 972, as you all know, is Israel. 973 is Bahrain. I still have my tickets from that first flight. I haven't got round to actually framing them yet, but that is my plan.

Sitting on that flight, I actually had an aisle seat, and the person who was sitting next to me realized this was my first flight into Tel Aviv. And he was American, so he had been a lot of times. So he asked me if I wanted to sit on the window seat. So we changed seats.

And landing into Tel Aviv, he gave me a running commentary of what we were seeing underneath. So it was just emotional, just to be sitting on that plane. When the plane landed on the tarmac, we actually had the stairs to come down [INAUDIBLE]. And just when the doors opened and I could feel-- I was not the first one out of the plane.

I think the sixth or the seventh. But coming out of that plane and just the air of Tel Aviv hitting me in my face, I felt I had come to my second home. On the way from the airport to Jerusalem-- our meetings were actually in Jerusalem. So on the way from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, I was like a kid at Disneyland.

I was trying to get in all the sites and making sure I didn't miss anything and taking photographs as we were going along And sending them off to my family in Bahrain. It was basically I was very, very excited.

That was a one-day trip. And in between the meetings, we had a one-hour lunch break. I didn't go for lunch. I was given the opportunity to actually go to the Western Wall, and I jumped at that opportunity.

I sneaked out of the hotel. We sneaked out of the hotel because we were not allowed to move because of the high security and managed to get to the Western Wall. And those 10 minutes that I had there were so emotional.

I've seen it on pictures. I've seen it on TV. But I never actually thought that I would actually be standing there in person.

I don't think you can imagine that, for a person who has never been in their life and then to go there twice in one week, what that experience is like. So within that week, I went back to Israel, this time as a delegation of the King Hamad Global Center. And this time we spent six days over there, so I had a much longer time to take in the sights of Tel Aviv and of Jerusalem.

I explored Jerusalem, went back to the Western Wall again. And I even bought a mezuzah that's made from Jerusalem stone for our synagogue here in Manama, which is now very proudly on the doorpost. I also had a chance to visit my family and friends.

And sorry, I'm getting emotional here. I also had a chance to visit family and friends in Tel Aviv. One of the friends I saw, who is actually on this event-- she's actually watching me here-- I had not seen since I had left school over 30 years ago.

So it was so nice to reconnect with people that I have not seen in such a long time and also to see my family. Most of my family I would see when I'm traveling, when we would travel for weddings in Europe or in the United States. But to see them in their environment in Israel was just another amazing experience. And you asked me when I will go again. I am waiting for that first flight to go back to Israel, hopefully August or September I will be there.

[Alan Kadish] So you tell us a little bit about what the experience of landing was like. What was the experience at the Western Wall like?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] I cannot describe it in words. It was just so emotional. I actually went there with Aryeh Lightstone. So when he heard that was my first time in Israel and that I've never been to the Western Wall, he told me, would you like to go? And I said, absolutely.

With his security and because he's from the embassy, we managed to drive all the way to the actual wall. So I don't think that's ever happened to a lot of people. But just before we got there, he goes to me, would you like to walk the last few minutes? So I said absolutely.

So we ended up walking about 10 minutes. I was in my high heels. And you know the cobblestones in the Old Jerusalem. So I was walking around in high heels, and he goes to me, Houda, you're going to ruin your shoes.

I said, I don't care. This is worth more than my shoes. I am doing this, and we're going to walk all the way.

Getting to the Western Wall, again, because of his connections, I was actually taken to the front of the wall-- because we didn't have much time, I was taken to the front of the wall. But just standing there and just touching that wall and putting papers that a lot of people from Bahrain had asked me to put in there brought me actually to tears.

And when I was walking backwards and I was walking back towards Aryeh. It was emotional. It was unbelievable that I could actually be there. And I did something that my father had longed to do, and I actually had the opportunity to do that. And I'm so grateful. I actually did it in his name. So I'm very grateful for that.

[Alan Kadish] So what's it been like being part of the Bahrain-Jewish community with the Abraham Accords and the excitement? And as you pointed out, you have lots of people you communicate with on Twitter. What's been like for the rest of the people in the community and for the community as a whole? Has it been a real big change in the way the community exists? How has it affected you?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Oh, it hasn't really been a big change. Everyone has always known that we were Jewish. And we've always been open and proud to be Jewish in Bahrain, so it that has not changed at all.

So over the years, there's been many articles that have been written about the Jewish community in Bahrain because of our size. Everyone's intrigued at how such a small community still survives in the region.

What happened with the Abraham Accords is basically it catapulted us to the center stage. And as the first country with an Indigenous Jewish population to sign the Accords, it brought us in the spotlight but in a good way. It has given us so many opportunities.

As an example, the Jewish community, the Bahraini-Jewish community, we had our first public Yom HaShoah commemoration, and we participated in the global Yellow Candle Project. So basically, I was in touch with an organization in Europe, and they were talking about the Project, about the Yellow Candle Project. And we told them that we would love to participate in it.

So we got the yellow candles. And a group of the Jewish community went to the synagogue, and we actually lit the candles. And we had a Zoom commemoration around the event, and Ambassador Dore Gold was actually the speaker at that event. So it's been amazing for us.

And the others in the Jewish community-- Abraham has been-- who's the president of the community, has been inundated with Zoom calls and with media requests and everybody basically just wanting to ask us about what it is like being in Bahrain. And the others are just grateful that this has happened in their lifetime, and they want to have the opportunity to actually visit Israel. And I can talk on my behalf of my mom. She can't wait to go there and see her family, so hopefully it will happen very, very soon.

[Alan Kadish] So you had mentioned that the synagogue had its first minyan relatively recently when you had some guests there. Do you anticipate that's going to be able to continue, for example, on Rosh Hashanah and Yom kippur? Do you have plans that you're making?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Currently what we try to do is actually have regular Shabbat services. But unfortunately, because of COVID restrictions, we have not been able to do that. There is a number of Jews who actually work on the naval base in Bahrain. Bahrain is the home of the Fifth Fleet. So there's quite a few Jews on the base.

In the past, they usually have a rabbi that comes in for the holidays, for Hanukkah, for Pesach. So what we used to do in the past is actually have-- the rabbi who's coming into Bahrain, invite him into our house and get the people from the base to also come into our house. And we would celebrate the festivals together.

So hopefully, again, COVID permitting, we will try and replicate that in the synagogue this year. So we are working on a project, but because it's so difficult to know what's going to happen, we have to play it by ear basically. So we look forward to be able to do something.

[Alan Kadish] Well, you have my empathy. As you know, we're trying to decide what to do with our University in the fall, COVID permitting. So it's a constantly moving target and has been a challenge, although one that I think will together get through. So it's been very interesting.

So in February, the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities was launched with the aim of being people-to-people network of Jewish communities from the Gulf that are developing Jewish life in the region. And I understand you're a board member. What do you see happening in the next few years?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] I see Jewish life is going to continue to grow. Somebody asked me today, how many Jews are there in the gulf? I think the numbers are about 1,000 people. Bahrain has just under 50 people. The Emirates, we think, is somewhere around 800. And the rest are in the other AGJC countries.

As Jews will move to the region for business opportunities, there's going to be a greater need for kosher food options, Pesach programs in hotels. And in Dubai, they did have some Pesach programs this year. We're going to need Jewish schools, youth programming, additional synagogues, of course, as the community starts to grow, and Jewish infrastructure.

The Gulf has-- we have so many things to offer. For example, whereas anti-Semitism is on the rise in the West, we don't have any issues with that here. And speaking from experience, it's such a great lifestyle, and it's a wonderful place to raise a Jewish family in Bahrain.

So with this in mind, in February, the local Jewish communities of Bahrain, Kuwait, Amman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, we came together to share resources. And we formed the

Association of the Gulf Jewish Communities, otherwise known as the AGJC. It's a people-to-people network, and our aim is to develop Jewish life in the region.

Each community is actually independent. We share a common goal and vision for Jewish life in the AGJC to flourish, for the benefit of both residents and visitors. The Association's board consists of members from all six Gulf countries, and together, we will forge the path forward for growing Jewish life in the Gulf.

Under the AGJC, we are gearing up to support what Jewish life will look like in the next 5 to 10 years. We are in the process of creating the Beth din of Arabia and the Arabian Kosher Certification Agency. The Gulf nations have all been very supportive of the growth in Jewish life. But as more people move in and come to visit, we must tend to their educational, cultural, spiritual, and religious-backed requirements by establishing programs and institutions to service these increased needs.

Bahrain's Jewish community is actually part of the fabric of Bahraini society for over 100 years, 140 years to be exact. And we appreciate the needs of some of the smaller or newer communities in the region. And we believe we can help them flourish and navigate growth in this part of the world.

For Pesach, we actually planned the variety of programming to support and enrich the holiday for the local Jews. This included arranging the shipment of nearly 650 pounds of matzah to the six AGJC countries, along with kosher for Passover food. We actually had an issue of getting this matzah in, and it arrived one day.

And because this year happened to be on a Friday night-- Saturday night, but we had to be ready for Friday night. It actually arrived to us on Thursday afternoon. So it was a big hassle trying to get it to everybody. Well, we managed to actually do it.

[Alan Kadish] Wow.

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[Alan Kadish] What was the challenge of getting the matzah?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Oh, because we actually ordered it to come in from the States. And there was some delays because there were some grape juice included in the shipping. And because there was liquid in the shipping, it had to go through a different way of actually moving the shipment. So it just took forever to get out.

And it finally moved from the States. And then we ended up also ordering from Europe just to make sure that we would get our orders in. And we managed to get our orders from Europe and from the United States into Bahrain, into Dubai, and managed to get them out to the other AGJC countries by Friday morning.

So we were like, our heart was in our hands. We didn't know what was going to happen. But we managed to resolve the issue. So it was very, very tight.

[Alan Kadish] Wow. So one of the things that occurred to me, I think your plan to establish Jewish organizations in the Gulf is a tremendous plan. In the interim, as it's developed, one of the things that, of course, you and I talked about earlier is that, in the age of COVID, we've become comfortable doing some things over Zoom that maybe aren't optimal.

But we've figured out how to do it. So I think there's an opportunity to share resources. As you develop the institutions in the Gulf, I think there's an opportunity to share educational and cultural resources via Zoom or other electronic means to try to help the communities develop as you grow the organizations.

So I think that I'm sure there would be lots of people who would be very prepared to try to make that happen. And certainly anything we can do we'd be very happy to help with.

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Thank you. Actually, we started this in February, and our first event was Purim. So we had a Megillah reading via Zoom with Rabbi Dr. Abadie, who is actually the senior rabbi in Dubai but also the rabbi of the AGJC. So we had the Purim event, and that was a total hit.

We also had an event for Pesach. We've had events for Lag BaOmer. And a couple of weeks ago, we had our-- and all the events were over Zoom. But a couple of weeks ago, we had a Shabbat in Dubai, and we invited people to meet the board of AGJC.

So we had the ambassadors of Israel. The ambassador of Israel was with us, Eitan Na'eh, the ambassador of Canada to Abu Dhabi, who is also Jewish. And we invited the Emirati influencers, and we spent the Shabbat with them.

The program actually was supposed to finish by 10:30, but we continued until maybe 1:00 in the morning, just back and forth in discussions. And it was just an amazing event. So yes, it's important to continue over Zoom, but it's also important to have that interactions with people as well.

So we're trying now to incorporate both at the same time. And thank you so much for your offer. We will look forward to maybe doing another event where we can get the AGJC with-- maybe over Rosh Hashanah or Sukkot, we can get someone to have an event together.

[Alan Kadish] That would be great. So let's turn away from the Jewish community in the Gulf that we've been talking about for the past few minutes to one final topic before we have to go, which is one of the things that was highlighted in the Abraham Accords was industrial cooperation or economic cooperation among the signers of the Abraham Accords. So in what industries and sectors do you see the greatest collaboration between Bahrain and Israel? And how do you see that developing to the mutual benefit of both countries?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] There's quite a few opportunities that is resulting from the Bahrain-Israel relationship, and it includes, like I've said before, the oil and gas, logistics, information, cybersecurity, technology, manufacturing, financial services, health care, education, and, obviously, travel and tourism. And we want to get more people to come into Bahrain and see what Bahrain is really like.

On the business front, COVID pandemic has impacted economies around the world. And now, as economies are slowly opening up again, there is a new market for businesses in Bahrain and also for Israel to tap into. Our countries can benefit from sharing best practices as we continue to build our economies.

In January, we had the National Bank of Bahrain, which signed an MOU with Israel's two largest banks, Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi. Recently, Bahrain also signed a $3 million agreement with Mekorot to share water knowledge and technologies. And we also announced our first medical cooperation initiative, which you will be interested in, between Salmaniya Medical Complex, which is our largest government hospital, and Sheba Medical Center.

And this includes exchange programs, so basically exchange of doctors for training purposes and for research. These are just within the last few months that these have been developing. There are a lot more opportunities and a lot more MOUs that are being signed between our two countries. So there's a lot for us to do, and both of us are going to benefit from this.

The Bahrainis are going to benefit, as well as the Israelis. So we just look forward to growing and growing our relationship even further.

[Alan Kadish] So talking with you, it sounds like there's this incredible excitement about the future. So am I misreading that? How optimistic do you feel? And where do you see things going?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Oh, we can only go up. There's no way back now. So we're definitely on the right path. Our leadership have taken a major step forward, and it's been timely.

I think, again, because of Zoom, it's been so much easier to get with and meet people in Israel. And we've had a lot of Israeli delegations have actually come out to Bahrain as well. And every delegation that has come out to Bahrain, myself and my cousin, we get to meet them and take them and show them and show them the actual show.

So there's been a lot of interaction that we've never had before in our lives. And I'll just go back to pre-Abraham Accord days. So the AJC, the American Jewish Community, used to bring a delegation to Bahrain on an annual basis. They'd come to Bahrain, the Emirates, and Amman.

And there was a couple of times where we had people who were wearing kippahs, but they would hide it in Bahrain with a baseball hat. And one day, one of the guys was, can we go walk around with a kippah? Would there be any issues here?

So I said, absolutely not. Here, you dress as you want. You wear what you want. Take off your baseball hat, walk down the street, and see if anybody will even blink an eye.

And he did that, and he was just so ecstatic that he could be walking in the souk in Bahrain, going towards the synagogue and not have to hide his kippah. So we are definitely moving in the right direction. We always have, and we always will.

[Alan Kadish] That's great. Any last words that you want to share with everyone?

[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] Please do visit Bahrain. Research about Bahrain. It's an amazing, amazing place. You come here. You will actually meet the locals.

I'm Bahraini. And I'm not a mouthpiece, but I just want you to come and see it with your own eyes. When you see it, you will be amazed at what we really are as a country. And I will look forward to actually-- reach out to me, and I will take you around Bahrain and show you what Bahrain is.

[Alan Kadish] And I've learned a lot in the last hour or so speaking with you. And I think optimism about the future, opportunity for the future, and forming a close relationship as part of an international Jewish community are all things that, I think, both look great in the future, are incredibly exciting.

And as we face challenges in other areas of the world, I think the chance to work together and help support each other is something that we can't miss. So I know there's been a lot of activity. I truly hope that activity continues.

You were kind enough to invite us to visit. And I hope we can arrange that. And from what you've described, it would be incredibly exciting.

And so I'm going to close by saying, first of all, we all hope that the COVID pandemic, which has killed so many, it remains under control. I know there have been some blips lately in Bahrain and actually in Israel as well. And so we need to continue to be vigilant.

But hopefully we're turning the corner, and hopefully it produces opportunities for further cooperation and for furthering peace, economic prosperity, and a better life for all of us. And I think it's impossible to overestimate the importance of the Abraham Accords. And so we're thrilled that it's received such a positive view in your country and among you. And so we look forward to the future and hope we can meet in person sometime.

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[Ambassador Houda Nonoo] We look forward to that. Thank you so much, Dr. Kadish.

[TEXT] TOURO TALKS, TOURO UNIVERSITY, WWW.TOURO.EDU

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