Ron Dermer
Gilbert N. Kahn is a professor of Political Science at Kean University.
Approximately six months after the initial rumors had first circulated the Israeli Government has announced the appointment of Ron Dermer to succeed Ambassador Michael Oren as Israel’s ambassador in Washington. The delay in appointment does not reduce some of the concerns raised at the time that his name was floated up except that presumably the State Department has cleared the appointment at this time. For specific details, see an earlier post.
In truth things have settled down between Jerusalem and Washington since December, especially following Obama’s visit. In addition, Dermer will have little say on any movement ahead on the Kerry initiatives to jump start a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians. All moves in that regard will come from Israel. Finally, there is so much distracting turmoil in the region at the moment that stable U.S.-Israel relations is one of the clearly reliable, predictable planks in American diplomacy in the Middle East.
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