Ron Dermer

Ron Dermer grew up in Miami Beach and studied finance and management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford. He worked as a political adviser and newspaper columnist, coauthored The Case for Democracy, and became a close adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu. His relationship with the prime minister gave American officials a direct channel to the Israeli leadership during his ambassadorship from 2013 to 2021. ^{1, 2}

Dermer's Washington years spanned a confrontation with the Obama administration over Iran and close cooperation with Donald Trump. He helped arrange Netanyahu's 2015 address to Congress with House Speaker John Boehner. Many Democrats regarded the invitation as a rebuke to Obama, and the episode damaged Dermer's relations with them. His office defended its subsequent embrace of Trump as productive for Israel and denied that it had undermined bipartisan support. ²

He worked with American counterparts on military assistance, missile defense, recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and the negotiations leading to the Abraham Accords. After the embassy, he joined JINSA, then served as minister of strategic affairs from 2022 to 2025, continuing work on relations with Washington and regional diplomacy. He returned to JINSA as a distinguished fellow in July 2026. ¹