As Netanyahu and Trump to meet, Ron Dermer has to find ‘the formula of the century’
PM has elevated his closest confidant to the key role of managing the ongoing hostage-ceasefire talks. That’s because the implications are now broader – politically and regionally

Minister Ron Dermer, perhaps the most influential figure in the government these days, is also Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private ambassador to the US. The Americans know this, and so does anyone involved in diplomacy between the US and Israel.
Dermer’s most critical role, beyond the grandiose title of minister of strategic affairs, is to ensure that the interests of the two countries align. This is precisely why Dermer is now stepping into the spotlight: He is the one who will oversee and manage the continuation of the negotiations with Hamas over the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal, as was first reported on Channel 12 News over the weekend.
American interests do not always align with Netanyahu’s political needs. In such cases, Dermer sometimes pushes the prime minister and at other times backs down. He was the driving force behind the continuous flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, meeting the Biden administration’s maximum demands. Key right-wing ministers — most notably Bezalel Smotrich and former minister Itamar Ben Gvir — opposed and continue to oppose this aid.
Dermer understood that resisting the Americans on this sensitive issue was not an option. The supply of aid proceeded at the pace and in the quantities the US administration wanted, and an open clash with President Joe Biden was avoided.
It is also worth remembering that at the most critical moments when the humanitarian aid issue was on the table, in the early months of 2024, the war cabinet included ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, which made Dermer’s battle easier.
Regarding the hostage deal, Dermer has recognized his own limitations. He supported a deal to bring back the hostages from the very start of the war. He was willing to pay almost any price to see the hostages return home — sometimes even beyond what former ministers Gantz and especially Eisenkot had envisioned.

Dermer pushed for the deal based on the framework outlined by Biden as early as last May, but then he encountered roadblocks set by Netanyahu. Dermer backed down and did not directly challenge the prime minister.
In fact, he would never do that. The prime minister is the one responsible for Dermer’s impressive career trajectory. He sent Dermer as early as 2004 to serve as Israel’s economic attaché at the embassy in Washington, and appointed him Israel’s ambassador to the US between 2013 and 2021.
Right now, in Washington, Dermer is doing everything possible to maintain Netanyahu’s room for maneuver in dealing with President Donald Trump. This time, he is operating in his new, highly sensitive role — head of the team managing negotiations on the hostage deal.
Netanyahu promoted Dermer to this role, which he is taking over from Mossad chief David Barnea, because the negotiations on the second phase of the deal are expected to be different, with wider implications — incorporating political and diplomatic elements related to Gaza’s future, the normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, and the broader conflict with Iran.
This is no longer just the outgoing Biden administration, focused overwhelmingly on the hostage deal. It is about the geostrategic vision of the new administration, continuing alongside or in parallel with the hostage deal. Netanyahu needs Dermer — his closest confidant — on the ground.
Incidentally, Netanyahu’s circle dislikes the prevailing narrative that the hostage deal was consummated only thanks to Trump after he pressured the prime minister.
“Netanyahu initiated the hostage deal and then received 28 new demands from Yahya Sanwar that delayed the entire process,” one of the prime minister’s close associates told The Times of Israel. “Netanyahu, for his part, refused to compromise on inspections in Netzarim and staying in the Philadelphi Corridor. After Sinwar was eliminated and Hezbollah was struck, Hamas accepted the terms — unrelated to Trump.”
It is hard to overstate the importance of Netanyahu’s current visit to Washington. Dermer will have to find the “formula of the century” — how to continue the hostage deal (which he supports) until its completion, while also ensuring the elimination of Hamas in Gaza and maintaining the government’s stability against threats of withdrawal from Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party.

The prevailing assessment heard in Netanyahu’s office before the trip was that Trump would sum up his demand to Netanyahu in seven words: Bring them home, and then we’ll see.
Implementing the second phase of the deal requires a full Israeli withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip. The Religious Zionism party has threatened to dismantle the government if that happens — unless Hamas is first disarmed and stripped of its control over the Strip.
Netanyahu and Dermer will demand an American guarantee allowing the option of resuming the war after — or even before — the deal is implemented. Trump’s preference is to see the process completed, for the sake of Saudi normalization.
It is always important to remember: Dermer is a far greater admirer of the American administration than Netanyahu is. Dermer is a Republican at heart, and his network of connections within the current administration, Congress, the Senate and the evangelical world is extensive.

Dermer, 53, has spent nearly 40 years of his life in the United States as a student, researcher, and diplomat. He is well-acquainted with the influential figures surrounding Trump, and they all know him from the president’s first term, when Dermer was Israel’s ambassador and a key figure in the drafting of Trump’s “Deal of the Century” and the Abraham Accords.
Today, Dermer once again finds himself at the center of a historic challenge, alongside some of those same figures. This time, it is the highly complex task of implementing the hostage deal. Starting Monday, as negotiations begin on the second phase of the deal with Netanyahu’s meeting with Steve Witkoff — and especially Tuesday, after Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump — we will learn whether Dermer has succeeded in his landmark mission.
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