Bahrain has nominated a Jewish woman to be its ambassador to Washington, the kingdom's foreign minister said dismissing doubts about her suitability to represent the small Muslim country.

Houda Nonoo's appointment as Bahrain's envoy to the United States had been rumoured by local media for months, stirring intense debate about Bahrain's diplomatic aims and whether a Jew would truly represent Arab sentiment regarding top US ally Israel.

'Regardless of religion, first and foremost she is Bahraini, just as her father was, just as her grandfather was,' Bahraini foreign minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told reporters.

Nonoo would be the first Jew to become an ambassador for a modern Arab nation, according to the Jewish Virtual Library website.

Bahrain, a US-allied island of some 1.05 million people, is home to only about 35 Jews, but they are well represented in the business community and have served at senior levels of government.

Most Bahraini Jews trace their roots back to Iraqi emigrants, and at its height in the early 20th century Bahrain's Jewish community numbered at least 1,000 people. Most left after anti-Jewish attacks following the creation of Israel in 1948.-Reuters