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Monday, September 15, 2014

Israel appoints its first female ambassador to Arab country

From i24:
Currently heading the international division of the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic research center, Einat Schlien will replace Daniel Nevo in Jordan as Israel's ambassador. Schlien has been with the Foreign Ministry for 22 years and she was posted in Amman at the beginning of her diplomatic career, after which she also served in Israel's embassy in Washington.

This marks the first time that a woman has been appointed as an Israeli envoy to an Arab country.

During Israel's Operation Protective Edge, enmity was boiling over in Jordan against Israel with a number of demonstrations where Israeli flags were burnt in front of the embassy. A plot against the Israeli embassy in the Hashemite Kingdom was foiled by Jordanian forces in May of last year. The suspects in that case included a Syrian and the suspects are also accused of trying to recruit people to Hezbollah as well as plotting to attack US soldiers.
Haaretz adds that Schlein is fluent in Arabic.

I know that Egyptians created crazy rumors around the female US ambassador to that country, and I always wondered if it was because she was a woman. I have a feeling that there will be far more vitriol against Schlien in Jordan than there were was for her predecessor, Daniel Nevo.

She won't start for ten months.