Ron Dermer… a member of the Israeli war council whom the Democrats are suspicious of
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Ron Dermer as his country’s ambassador to the United States in 2013, aides to President Barack Obama, who considered Dermer a right-wing political activist and not a diplomat, began a debate over whether the White House should decline Accept your credentials. (They later abandoned the idea.)
Now, Dermer is one of five members of Netanyahu’s war cabinet and serves as Israel’s main communication channel with the Biden administration. Unlike ten years ago, when Dermer was a frequent source of pressure and tension for the White House, today American officials are doing their best to emphasize that his close relations with Netanyahu and his deep knowledge of the Washington political scene , make him a valuable mediator in this crisis.
However, as the United States enters what could be the most difficult period in recent years in its relations with Israel – which requires balanced support for the war against Hamas, with pressure to stop the bombing of the Gaza Strip in the name of efforts to humanitarian relief – Dermer’s story begins, in the background the feud with the Obama White House looms.
“Ron Dermer has the ability to deal with the American side,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former Middle East peace negotiator. The fact that he is now a member of the War Cabinet is crucial in this regard. The question now is whether he will face doubts and distrust of him from Biden’s members.”
So far the answer seems to be: no. American officials said that Dermer, 52, who serves as minister of strategic affairs, had a constructive presence in many meetings and phone calls – and that the vicissitudes that characterized the long relationship with him served as a source of familiarity, not out of resentment.
This satisfaction may be put to the test when the crisis moves from the military phase to diplomacy and politics, two areas where Dermer can cover more ground.
Interestingly, while in Washington, Dermer clashed with Obama over the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel staunchly opposed, as well as the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Like Netanyahu, Dermer is not a supporter of the two-state solution, which future President Joe Biden has said is critical to the future of Israel and the Palestinians after the war.
It’s worth noting that many of Biden’s senior advisers, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, previously worked with Obama and have vivid memories of the Israeli pressure campaign against the Iran deal.
For his part, Dermer ignored past battles, describing them as “completely irrelevant” to his present-day relations with the US administration. “I don’t see it as a cloud hanging over anything,” she said in a telephone interview Monday.
Dermer stressed that Iran, a point of contention between the United States and Israel, has withdrawn. Interestingly, Biden’s attempts to revive nuclear talks with Tehran have fizzled out and at the same time Hamas, which launched a deadly attack on October 7 against Israeli civilians and soldiers, enjoys the support of the Iranians. President Biden has sent aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean to dissuade Iran and its Lebanese group Hezbollah from going to war against Israel.
Dermer commented: “I believe that coordination and cooperation have become better than ever, especially in wartime.” They are aware of our position and we are aware of their position.”
This was not the case during the Obama years. In 2014, during a previous Israeli military operation in Gaza, the Foreign Ministry announced that it was “appalled” by what it described as a “shameful” attack on a United Nations school. Israeli officials were angered by the language used, saying it was completely unjustified.
White House aides also expressed their anger at Dermer’s continued bias towards Republicans, who show greater support for Netanyahu and his positions. It is clear that Dermer has had warmer relations with President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, did not oppose Israeli settlements and proposed Israel’s annexation of much of the West Bank, as well to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, something Israel had always requested.
For their part, analysts believe Dermer has a good grasp on the question of how the war complicates Biden’s domestic political scene, with progressive Democrats and Muslim and Arab American voters rejecting his support for Israel. Given Dermer’s close ties to Trump, who is running for president again, some wonder whether he would advise Netanyahu to take Biden’s delicate situation into consideration.
In this context, Miller said: “The administration should view Dermer as a double-edged sword; On the one hand they have a high-level communication channel with the Prime Minister. On the other hand, Dermer demonstrates a clear ability to act in a way that does not recognize reciprocity between the United States and Israel.
On the one hand, Dermer’s membership in the War Cabinet comes as a surprise. It is known that Dermer was born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, then moved to Israel after graduation and did not serve in the Israeli army. Interestingly, three of the cabinet members are retired generals, while Netanyahu served in a special forces unit in his youth.
However, on another level, Dermer’s current status seems predictable, given his long-standing ties to Netanyahu, widely known as Bibi. Dermer has been an advisor to the prime minister since 2000, both from Washington and Jerusalem, and is considered the “brain of Bibi”, according to the online Jewish magazine Tablet.
For his part, Anshel Feffer, who wrote a biography titled “Bibi: The Troubled Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu,” said of Netanyahu: “He made sure Dermer was part of the war government.” He added: “It is clear that the only person he trusts is Ron Dermer, who has little or no military experience.”
During his tenure as ambassador between 2013 and 2021, Dermer was an influential player in Washington, not only in diplomatic circles, but also in political ones. He strengthened his relationships with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, especially Republicans, and worked with them to draft Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress in 2015, in which he described Netanyahu’s proposed nuclear deal. Obama as “a bad deal. “
Subsequently, Dermer worked closely with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in drafting the Abraham Accord, which normalized Israeli relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Michael Oren, who preceded Dermer as Israel’s ambassador to Washington, said, “He’s the man who has all the power,” indicating that Dermer has full authority to work on behalf of his government abroad.
Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, said Dermer has an “extraordinary understanding” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the dynamics in the region, and “should be seen as a key asset in the U.S. relationship.” and Israel, regardless of the political party in power.” In Washington.
Dermer certainly has a lot of experience in party politics, as his father, Jay, was the Democratic mayor of Miami Beach. His first job after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania was working for Republican Frank Luntz, a pollster. Luntz recalled that during a class discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he once asked Dermer to side with the Palestinians.
“His team won, which terrified him, so he rushed to the front of the room to assure everyone that the only reason he won was because he lied about all of his statements,” Luntz said. “Israel was really more important to him than his personal reputation.”
If Dermer’s national loyalty is to Israel, his personal loyalty is to Netanyahu. His friends describe this loyalty as unwavering, so much so that he once blamed himself for a scandal that engulfed Netanyahu. In 2018, Dermer said he had not conveyed warnings to the prime minister about sexual misconduct by his spokesman, David Keyes, who resigned after the allegations became public.
This loyalty could play an important role in Netanyahu’s fight for his political future after the end of the war in Gaza. Some wonder what advice Dermer will give his president and whether this advice – regarding issues such as the attempt to revive the two-state solution – will open new rifts between Israel and the United States.
Whatever the issue, Dermer stressed that it shouldn’t get personal. “I always saw the differences as political differences,” she said, referring to the Obama years. “I never questioned anyone’s motives.”
*New York Times report