Benjamin Netanyahu Adviser Ron Dermer Steps Down With Hostages Released

Ron Dermer, Israel’s minster of strategic affairs and close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced he is stepping down, weeks after helping secure the release of most Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire with Hamas.

Dermer led the Israeli team that negotiated over the fate of the hostages seized by Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. A former ambassador to the US, he enjoyed close relations with the Trump administration and became a de facto liaison between the two countries over the hostage issue and when Israel and the US struck Iranian nuclear sites earlier this year.

“This government will be defined both by the attack on October 7th and by the prosecution of the two-year, seven-front, war that followed,” Dermer wrote in his resignation letter. “Two years later, we have dealt a devastating blow to Iran’s terror axis and are now powerfully positioned to usher in an age of security, prosperity and peace.”

Hamas released the last of the living Israeli hostages seized on Oct. 7 following the signing of a ceasefire with Israel last month. Dermer said he was stepping down to fulfill a promise to his family.

Before he was the head of the hostage-negotiation team, Dermer was given a minister’s position even though he never ran for office — an uncommon move in Israeli politics. His ministry was re-opened to accommodate him after having been previously shut down.

Dermer, 54, was born in the US and started working as a Netanyahu adviser in 2003. He was Israel’s economic counselor in Washington before serving as ambassador to the US for more than seven years starting in 2013.

In recent months Dermer became the target of public criticism from government opponents and the families of hostages who said he wasn’t doing enough to secure the hostages’ release.