Netanyahu to name new ambassador to US — Ron Dermer and Dr. Ophir Falk are top contenders

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — With Donald Trump coming back to power as President of the United States in January, Israel will have a new ambassador in Washington to strengthen relations with its most important ally.

Michael Herzog, the current ambassador, will wrap up his assignment on January 20, 2025. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce a new envoy soon, perhaps as early as today.

NETANYAHU’S FIRST CHOICE: RON DERMER

ALL ISRAEL NEWS has learned that Netanyahu’s first choice is his most trusted advisor, Ron Dermer.

Currently Minister of Strategic Affairs, Dermer served as ambassador to the U.S. for seven years, from 2013 to 2021.

He is widely considered Israel’s most effective emissary to the American superpower, having helped negotiate four Arab-Israeli peace and normalization agreements known as the Abraham Accords.

Dermer was born and raised in the U.S. — in Miami Beach where his father was the mayor — and has a sharp and incisive understanding of American culture, media, and politics. 

However, given that he has already served in the post in Washington longer than any other Israeli — and wants his five kids to grow up in Israel, and has a son serving in the IDF — Dermer has been reluctant to agree to Netanyahu’s request.

ANOTHER TOP CONTENDER: DR. OPHIR FALK

That said, ALL ISRAEL NEWS has also learned that Netanyahu’s next choice would be his current foreign policy advisor, Ophir Falk. 

“Falk, a lawyer with a PhD in international relations specializing in counter-terrorism, was born in Israel and lived in Canada from ages 4 to 18,” notes the Israeli outlet YNet News.

“He has become a close confidant of Netanyahu in recent years, helping him write his autobiography,” the paper reported in a profile it published in July, first raising the possibility of Falk being named ambassador.

Falk “previously lived in the United States for about five years as a research fellow at Georgetown University's Institute for Security Studies and at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya's Institute for Counter-Terrorism.”

“Upon Netanyahu's return to the Prime Minister’s Office, he appointed Falk as his political advisor and later as his envoy for hostage negotiations. Falk has participated in several negotiation delegations led by Mossad Director David Barnea, acting as Netanyahu's point of contact.”

NETANYAHU THANKS OUTGOING AMB. MICHAEL HERZOG

On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office issued the following statement.

Upon the completion of the three-year term allocated to the Israeli Ambassador to the US, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested that Ambassador Michael (Mike) Herzog temporarily extend his tenure until 20 January 2025.

The Prime Minister will, in the coming days, announce the appointment of a new ambassador who will soon leave for the transition period.

Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked Ambassador Herzog for his work over the last three years, and for his significant and professional contribution, especially during the challenging war period. Ambassador Herzog has honorably represented the State of Israel before administration officials, Congress, civil society organizations, the global media, and the American Jewish community.