White House Ramadan Dinner Stirs Up an International Mix of Flavors

Obama Hold Ramadan Dinner

It was no small gathering at the White House last evening, for President Obama's Ramadan celebration. Obama Foodorama calls it a "traditional iftar dinner" and I'll leave the culinary details to them.

This gathering was larger than this spring's Jewish Seder, giving the president the opportunity to bring diplomats, government officials and community leaders together. Even the Israeli ambassador attended.

Asked about the unusual step of inviting the Israeli ambassador to the dinner, the White House described it as a small part of the event. "Tonight was an opportunity to continue the tradition of hosting iftars at the White House, while celebrating Muslim Americans, and tonight's dinner is made up of a diverse group of individuals from business leaders to members of the US military," White House spokesman Thomas Vietor said. "Additionally, we thought it was an opportunity to reach out to ambassadors of nations with sizable Muslim populations, including the ambassadors of France, the [United Kingdom], India, and Israel."

The list of attendees is a good place for me to find new sources of information to support our International Women's Rights channel. I jumped this morning to feature Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, a young woman who broke high school basketball records in Massachusetts before heading to the University of Memphis -- while wearing a traditional hijab.

Abdul-Qaadir on the offensive.The photos of this extraordinary young woman show her with hair covered, but not playing basketball wearing a traditional hijab. Perhaps the preferred ones aren't in Google images.

No matter. To be under 5'5" tall and break WNBA star Rebecca Lobo's high school career point record in basketball is a major achievement. What a positive message for the evening! Anne