Ron Dermer, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior advisor, is reportedly being considered as the next Israeli ambassador to the US.
Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon first reported that Dermer, who immigrated to Israel in 1998 and is a Florida native, will replace current ambassador Michael Oren. Official sources in Jerusalem denied the report.
Oren’s four-year term is expected to end in the spring and Dermer is considered particularly close to the Prime Minister.
Dermer spoke to Moment for its July-August 2012 issue about his mentor and long-term friend, Natan Sharansky, who he met when Sharansky first got his start in Israeli politics through the formation of the Yisrael B’aliya party. Dermer also wrote Sharansky’s best-selling The Case for Democracy.
“Natan is a real believer in human rights and is a real liberal in that sense,” Dermer told Moment. “Israelis admire him, but they’ve never really grasped his depth. He’s not a sabra and in some ways, is still an outsider.”
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