Israel appoints first female Muslim to diplomatic role

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has appointed Rasha Atamny as the state’s representative to Ankara, making her Israel’s first female Muslim diplomat. The 31-year-old Palestinian was born in a small Arab town on the Israeli side of the West Bank border. She studied psychology at Hebrew University and was then accepted in a competitive three-year foreign […]

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has appointed Rasha Atamny as the state’s representative to Ankara, making her Israel’s first female Muslim diplomat.

The 31-year-old Palestinian was born in a small Arab town on the Israeli side of the West Bank border. She studied psychology at Hebrew University and was then accepted in a competitive three-year foreign ministry cadet course.

In a blog written while she was still completing her course, Atamny said her decision to become a diplomat came after a three-month internship at the Israeli mission at the UN.

Israel has previously appointed male Muslims to foreign diplomatic roles, as well as female Muslims to Foreign Ministry jobs in the state, but never abroad. 

(The Express Tribune)