WATCH: Unprompted, Ambassador Ron Dermer Welcomes Steve Bannon
Image by getty images
By Nathan Guttman November 17, 2016
Steve Bannon has a new defender: Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States.
Dermer was at Trump Tower Thursday afternoon and when leaving the building, escorted by Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway, he stopped for a short statement to the press pool waiting in the lobby.
Unprompted, Dermer chose to speak out about Bannon.
“We look forward to working with the Trump administration and with all the members of the Trump administration including Steve Bannon,” Dermer said in a brief statement to reporters. Dermer was not asked about Bannon, nor did he mention any other members of the Trump team.
This is the first official Israeli expression of support for Bannon, who had been criticized by several Jewish groups for turning Breitbart News, which he led before joining the Trump campaign, into a platform for anti-Semitic and racist commentators. 169 members of Congress signed a letter this week calling on Trump to rescind Bannon’s White House appointment.
Dermer also said after his meeting that “Israel has no doubt the president-elect Trump is a true friend of Israel” and praised vice president elect Mike Pence as well.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
