Israeli Lawmaker Calls on Netanyahu to Fire Ambassador to U.S.
Ron Dermer Image by Getty Images
An Israeli lawmaker called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire the country’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer.
Firing Dermer would be a first step to repairing the U.S.-Israel relationship, Erel Margalit of the Zionist Union party said in a letter sent to Netanyahu on Wednesday.
Dermer played a key role in organizing and preparing Netanyahu’s controversial speech to a joint meeting of Congress earlier this month. Neither the White House nor congressional Democrats were informed of the address warning against a nuclear agreement with Iran, bucking President Barack Obama’s policy of diplomacy.
“The loss of trust between the U.S. leadership and Israel’s leadership is dangerous for the country,” Margalit said in his letter, urging Netanyahu to “rehabilitate” the relationship.
Margalit said that Dermer “has served in the United States willingly and with loyalty,” and that Netanyahu has given Dermer his “full faith and trust,” as is to be expected.
“It is clear that Ambassador Dermer had a hand in recent events and it seriously hurt his ability to act in his official capacity in the United States. Even now, the doors to the White House and the State Department are closed to him, the U.S. Administration does not have faith in him and does not see him as a partner,” Margalit wrote.
“When an Israeli ambassador is a persona non grata, it endangers Israel,” he wrote, requesting that Netanyahu recall Dermer and replace him with “a diplomat that will be accepted by those with whom he must work.”
“It will prove that Israel is not determined to destroy our relationship with the US and instead is looking to rebuild trust with our greatest and most important ally in the world.”
Margalit was elected to the Knesset in 2013 from the Labor Party, which teamed with Hatnuah in last week’s elections to form Zionist Union.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
