JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, will complete his tenure in Washington D.C .at the end of September.
Dermer will leave Washington less than two weeks after Israel’s upcoming national elections, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported on Saturday night.
He will be forced to resign after Israel’s Civil Service Commission refused to extend his term of office by a year, as requested by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The commission also rejected a separate request by Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz for the extension, saying that the term could only be extended until the formation of a new government, which could then decide on its own ambassador to Washington, Channel 12 reported.
Dermer is a close confidante of the prime minister, and a trusted liaison between Netanyahu and the Trump administration, according to the report.
He came to Washington in 2013, at the start of President Barack Obama’s second presidential term.
