Netanyahu to extend term of US envoy Dermer for sixth year

In an unusual move, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will extend the term of Ambassador Ron Dermer, Israel’s envoy to the United States, for a sixth year. The extension will be brought to the cabinet for confirmation on Sunday.

Netanyahu said he made his decision due to “the unique political circumstances in the international arena in general, and in relations with the United States in particular.”

The prime minister added: “During his five years in office, Dermer managed to spin an extensive and high-quality network of contacts that enables him to advance the country’s goals vis-a-vis the administration and Congress.”

US-born Dermer’s term has already been previously extended.

Dermer was involved for several years in Republican congressional politics, before immigrating to Israel in 1997.

He was appointed ambassador in 2013 at the start of president Barack Obama’s second term in office.

Dermer is thought to have a good relationship with the Trump administration, particularly with presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, in contrast to his time working with the Obama White House — which was often at loggerheads with Netanyahu’s government.

In an email to Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta which was released by Wikileaks in 2016, Dermer said the Obama administration was “tone deaf” to the “existential threat” Israel faces from Iran.

Dermer has a good relationship with Trump’s base of evangelical support, telling the The New York Times in May that “devout Christians” had become the “backbone” of US support for Israel. “It’s got to be a solid quarter of the population, and that is maybe 10, 15, 20 times the Jewish population,” Dermer said.

He insisted in the interview, nonetheless, that the Israeli government was determined to maintain wide, bipartisan US support and US Jewish support for Israel. “You could say there’s a shift here or there, but obviously for us, it’s important that we have strong support that’s very broad and bipartisan,” Dermer said. “You can’t fly a plane with one wing.”

Despite this, the New Yorker reported Monday that a rare moment of tension occurred between the Israeli government and Trump White House in February 2017, a month after US President Donald Trump entered office, and reportedly devolved into yelling and profanity.

“This is our fuckin’ house,” an unnamed US official was quoted saying in response to Ron Dermer’s demands. At the time, Israel was reportedly looking for Trump to sign off on an understanding first reached between prime minister Golda Meir and US president Richard Nixon, whereby Israel would neither declare, test or threaten to use nuclear weapons in exchange for the US not pushing Israel to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Dermer had come to the White House to discuss adding Trump’s signature to the letter in talks with former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the report said. Unbeknownst to Dermer, Flynn would resign later that day for lying to Vice President Mike Pence over his contacts with the Russian ambassador.

Trump aides were caught off guard by Dermer’s request and told him they needed some time to study the issue, suggesting it was unclear whether Obama administration officials talked about the Israeli letter with their successors.

Israel’s desire to minimize the number of officials who took part in conversations about the letter reportedly rankled US officials, who felt Dermer was behaving as if he was in charge, according to the report.