Ron Dermer

Ron Dermer (רון דרמר, born April 16, 1971) is an American-born Israeli political consultant and diplomat serving as the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs since 2022.

In 1993, Dermer graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in Finance and Management.

While there, he was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and a founding member of the Jewish Heritage Program run by Rabbi Menachem Schmidt.

In 1993, Dermer left Washington to earn an additional degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from Oxford University.

While there, he served as President of the Oxford University L'Chaim Society.

In 1995, while still at Oxford, Dermer conducted the polling and formulated the strategy for Natan Sharansky's Yisrael BaAliyah party in its successful 1996 Knesset election campaign.

Dermer worked for Sharansky again in the Knesset elections of 1999, and in 2000 Sharansky recommended that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then planning a political comeback, meet with Dermer.

Dermer has been advising Netanyahu ever since and is one of his closest confidantes.

From 2001–2004, Dermer wrote a column called The Numbers Game for The Jerusalem Post.

In 2004, he co-wrote with Sharansky the book The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror.

From 2005–2008, Dermer served as the economic attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

This position required that Dermer give up his American citizenship.

Dermer explained his decision to do so in an article entitled "Proud to Have Been an American," initially published in the New York Sun and republished in The Jerusalem Post under the title "Why I Left the America I Love".

Dermer's appointment as Israel's Minister of Economic Affairs in the United States was made while Netanyahu was serving as Finance Minister under Ariel Sharon.

During his tenure as economic envoy, Dermer helped secure the 2007, 10-year memorandum of understanding on military assistance to Israel.

He also worked to convince individual states to divest state pension funds from Iran.

In 2007, his native state of Florida became the first state to pass divestment legislation.

In 2008, after his return to Israel, Dermer worked on Netanyahu's successful election campaign for Prime Minister, and in 2009 Dermer was named Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister.

While in the Prime Minister's Office, Dermer was considered Netanyahu's closest adviser and strategic consultant.

The Jerusalem Post said he "runs much of the interference with the White House, and is intimately involved in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians … [and] writes many of Netanyahu's speeches".

In 2011, Allison Hoffman of Tablet magazine called him "Bibi's Brain", quoting a long-time observer of Israeli politics as saying, "if you look at Ron, you see Bibi."

On December 28, 2012, Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon reported that Dermer's name was being floated as a potential replacement for Michael Oren, Israel's Ambassador to the United States.

The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the report and the Embassy of Israel in Washington spokesman called the report "baseless".

He served as the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2013 to 2021.

In March 2013, Dermer left the Prime Minister's Office, and on July 9, 2013 the Prime Minister's office announced that Dermer would replace Oren as Israel's Ambassador to the United States.

At a 2014 Wharton School alumni dinner, Dermer said in a speech that he chose to attend the school after reading Donald J. Trump's book The Art of the Deal.

Following his time at the University of Pennsylvania, Dermer worked for a year in Washington, D.C., with University of Pennsylvania adjunct professor Dr. Frank Luntz, where he learned about polling and political strategy.

Luntz later described Dermer as "the most talented student I've ever had."

In September 2016, towards the end of the Obama administration, Israel secured from the United States a 10-year, 38 billion dollar military aid package, the largest deal of its kind at the time.

In December 2017, during the Trump Presidency, the US recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and in May 2018 moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

That same month, Israel achieved its top diplomatic priority when the Trump administration withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

In March 2019, the US also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

In 2019, then Prime Minister Netanyahu named Dermer, along with former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, as potential successors.

Dermer stepped down as ambassador in 2021 after serving more than seven years in the post.

He was replaced by Gilad Erdan.

In April 2022, Dermer went to work for Exigent Capital, an investment management firm based in Jerusalem.

In 2020, Dermer played a key role in bringing about the Abraham Accords which normalized Israel’s relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

In the wake of the Accords, two more normalization agreements with Morocco and Sudan were signed in late 2020.

In light of his contribution to the Abraham Accords and the subsequent normalization agreements, Dermer was nominated, along with other key US officials, for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dermer was also credited by Dr. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, for his work in helping Israel obtain millions of Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines and by the convicted American spy Jonathan Pollard for his work in securing his release and arrival in Israel.