Dear Ron Dermer, I am writing to you because you have a historic opportunity to positively influence the fate of the State of Israel in general and the communities of the north in particular.
As you remember, we were once friends, when we worked together to advance sanctions on Iran — you as a Treasury representative in Washington and I as consul general to New England. My appreciation for your exceptional diplomatic abilities to advance policy goals has not diminished, even in instances when I strongly disagreed with your approach.
When I heard that you were appointed to head the negotiating team with Lebanon, I understood that this time Netanyahu is serious, because you are the person he trusts more than anyone else. Despite our differences on Palestinian and Iranian issues, I know you well enough to disagree with you without questioning your integrity. I do not believe you would have answered Netanyahu’s call to return to public service if you thought you were being asked to carry out a futile mission meant only to create delay and the appearance of action. I believe you came to do the diplomatic work that is so lacking and so necessary for Israel today.
I grew up in bomb shelters under Katyusha rockets fired at Manara from Lebanon. I fought in the First Lebanon War and lost many friends in that terrible conflict, including our company and battalion commanders. I know firsthand that what we tried in the past did not work because we lacked a diplomatic strategy alongside the military one.
My father was the mukhtar of Manara after it was founded in 1943, before the establishment of the state, and he managed relations with neighboring villages in Lebanon. I remember him explaining that the Shiites in southern Lebanon were our natural partners, as they too suffered from the dominance of others. That reality changed — partly because of the radicalization following Iran’s Islamic Revolution and partly because Hezbollah gained legitimacy as the defender of Lebanon after years of military presence in southern Lebanon created a vacuum and weakened state institutions. We ultimately withdrew from the security zone after 18 years, during which many soldiers were killed, without achieving a political objective because there was none.
Today we have an opportunity that never existed before.
Lebanon’s government, led by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, are Lebanese patriots who understand that Iran must not be allowed to use their country to advance the agenda of the ayatollah regime. They understand that to rebuild their country after years of war and crisis, they must disarm Hezbollah and foster alternative Shiite leadership. There are signs that Nabih Berri also understands this.
We have a rare alignment of interests with the Trump administration, France and the Gulf states to place Lebanon on a path of recovery and peace. The al-Sharaa government in Syria also seeks to weaken Hezbollah and will no longer allow Iran to transfer weapons and funding through its territory.
You, Ron Dermer, can be the one to bring about change. You know how to work with the Trump administration like no one else. You can help create a reality in which my family in Kibbutz Manara — where 75% of the buildings were damaged by Hezbollah anti-tank missiles — can rebuild its home. You can help ensure that my son, who is now serving as a reserve officer in Lebanon, does not endure the trauma I experienced in 1982.
Nadav TamirI am fully aware that this opportunity is also connected to the IDF’s successful military operations after Hezbollah joined Hamas on Oct. 8. I am a great believer in diplomacy, but I am not a pacifist. The use of force has a role in changing strategic reality. But perhaps this time, alongside the use of force, we can also apply diplomatic thinking toward arrangements and security agreements such as those we have with Egypt and Jordan.
At this moment, I do not know anyone whose diplomatic abilities are more relevant than yours to seize the window that has opened in Lebanon for the benefit of all of us. I hope you will influence the prime minister and the Trump administration, to which you are so closely connected, to change the course of Israel’s history — and that of my family in the north.
Nadav Tamir is a former diplomat in the United States and adviser to the foreign minister and president