Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said a peace deal could be signed with the Palestinians if Hamas was defeated. Dermer spoke Monday during a closed meeting with the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors.
According to the minister, after the eradication of Hamas, the Palestinians would understand that the notion that Israel could be destroyed is impossible and after seeing it achieve peace with Arab states, would make peace as well.
Dermer, who rarely makes public appearances, said he is certain that Hamas could be defeated, but the hostages must first be extracted from Gaza and that there are considerable efforts underway to get more of the hostages out. Regarding the day after the war, the minister said Israel is waiting to see how the outline proposed by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel supports, will develop.
Dermer said that during the war, then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told him that Hamas was an idea that could not be destroyed, to which he replied that the Nazi ideology was also an idea and there is no Nazi state. Hamas, he said, may remain an idea but must not rule over territory.
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Armed Hamas terrorists during a hostage release ceremony in Gaza
(Photo: Dawoud Abu Alkas / Reuters)
The Trump administration is better for Israel and the president has given his full unequivocal support, Dermer said, adding that President Joe Biden had done a lot for Israel and his actions are appreciated, but Hamas had identified the small differences between the previous administration's position and that of Israel and hoped to cause a rift between the two. Under Trump, he said, there is not even a slight gap.
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Dermer told the Board of Governors that when he was Israel's ambassador to the U.S., he refused to publish a post approving of Qatari money being delivered to Gaza. Dermer did not say who had asked for him to publish the post but said he ultimately published a watered-down version after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him it would calm the situation in the south.
Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Donald Trump at the White House
He then shared that, during Netayahu's visit to the White House last month, Trump was given a gold pager as a gift, alluding to the successful operation against Hezbollah when thousands of pagers exploded in the hands of senior operatives of the terror group.
Vice President JD Vance then asked for one as well, and a special one in silver was made for him. Now, Dermer said, there is an ongoing competition among officials in the White House to see who will receive a pager in bronze