The Dean

Bold and imaginative move..........

Unsurprising quote:

"She is believed to be the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7426806.stm

shakh your bootie

'Tis indeed. Had an interesting conversation this week with a surprisingly erudite Omani from Salalah - he assured me that there remains a small Jewish community in those parts, who claim ancestry back to Job. Odd, because all the "official" info that I can find claims that the last Omani Jew left Muscat at the turn of the last century...

The Dean

You never know - Baghdad is full of them...........

shakh your bootie

Any left in Saudi????

The Dean

Not that I know of - but there were some here, pre-1948.

Tehran also has loads........

W10

Like Bahrain, one of the Iranian members of parliament is a jew.

The jewish community is well respected in Iran. There are still some left in Tunisia too but not many.

It's just a shame that most Arabs don't differentiate between a jew and a zionist.

shiva

therein being the sum of the problem

typical

Do most zionists?

W10

Yes. There are massive divisions between Jews and Zionists, even in Israel.

Norm_uk

At least they have political discord in Israel...I wonder how many Gulf states would allow their nationals to openly debate the difference between an Arab and Muslim...

N.

Norm_uk

Not since the 7th Century I'd bet!

jvr20

You clearly have never watched the Doha Debates, for example.

In any case there is no analogy - Israel has always been a modern democratic, (nominally) socialist state. The Gulf states had rulers imposed by the colonial powers..

Inselaffen

they didnt have to keep them though!

jvr20

brilliantly disingenuous!

Because we all know how wholeheartedly the US and HMG applaud whenever the populace of any strategically important nation makes its own choice!

W10

They're not doing a bad job overall though are they?