By Asher Daniels, JNS
Seeing Netanyahu at the White House it is apparent that American-Israelis are in a position of influence at the top echelon of the Israeli government.
Among the many aspersions detractors of Benjamin Netanyahu have cast on Israel’s longest-serving prime minister over the years is that he’s “too American” and thus unfit to represent the Israeli people. His critics point to time spent growing up in the United States, where his father was teaching and to his university studies at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Never mind that Netanyahu returned to Israel to serve in one of the Israel Defense Forces’ most elite units, fought in some of the nation’s gravest conflicts and suffered injuries in combat. Never mind that his older brother Yonatan famously fell during the heroic Entebbe raid in 1976, saving Jewish lives. And never mind that he has been the nation’s democratically elected leader longer than any other prime minister in Israel’s 70-plus-year history.
There is no question that Netanyahu’s mastery of the English language is unparalleled in Israeli politics. It is, perhaps, one of the reasons for his relative popularity not only among Diaspora Jewish communities—but among supportive Americans who respect Israel’s consummate statesman, and are not burdened by the partisan and domestic considerations that weigh on Israelis.
One is hard-pressed to find a more articulate advocate in the English language for the needs of the state and the cause of Zionism. Israel’s fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, comes to mind, but she was raised in Milwaukee and, unlike Netanyahu, was an immigrant to Israel. Chaim Herzog, Israel’s sixth president, was born and raised in Ireland, and thus a native English speaker. Ze’ev Jabotinsky is remembered as a compelling orator in multiple languages. Most notable among these leaders was Abba Eban, who was born in South Africa and went on to serve simultaneously as Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations and ambassador to the United States throughout the first decade of national independence. He also served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister.
These are notable accomplishments for foreign-born, English-speaking olim ("new immigrants"), who, to this day, have trouble assimilating into the culture and often live in primarily English-speaking pockets in select areas of the country and never acquire the full fluency of Hebrew.
However, after witnessing Netanyahu at the White House as the now 47th President Donald Trump’s first official state visitor, it may be becoming apparent that Anglo-Israelis, and American-Israelis in particular, are in a position of, perhaps, unprecedented influence at the top echelon of the Israeli government.
The sight of the prime minister flanked by two American-born olim who are among his most senior counselors, at what is likely among the most high-stakes meetings of his long and distinguished career, is profoundly inspiring for other American immigrants and may have significant implications for Israeli policy going forward.
Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, born to a prominent Miami-based family, is widely considered to be Netanyahu’s right hand, his closest adviser and oversees a portfolio that essentially includes all of Israel’s highest foreign-policy priorities and issues of existential importance. During Trump and Netanyahu’s groundbreaking press conference, Dermer appeared to sit at the Israeli equivalent of the seat occupied by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Caroline Glick, who until recently was JNS’ senior contributing editor, is also American-born and raised, and has long been a pre-eminent voice laying out a strategic vision for Israel—and is now serving under Netanyahu as international affairs adviser.
On the surface, seeing these two olim at the prime minister’s side and engaged—at the highest level—in the battle for Israel’s survival is a statement of the limitless potential Israel offers to its immigrants, and, of course, is a reflection of the successes of Dermer and Glick in their respective careers.
However, there may be more to it than that. Trump’s sweeping victory has ushered in an era of national pride in which it is expected that each country should and must act in its own best interest, accommodating its allies to whatever extent possible along the way. In Netanyahu, Trump has a seasoned and powerful partner to enact a strategy to further whatever mutual interests the countries share. Dermer and Glick bring to the table a unique blend of American sensibilities, ideological alignment and tremendous expertise to offer a president who is willing to re-evaluate the failed paradigms in the Middle East that have led to endless and intractable conflict.
It is no coincidence that Trump dropped a bombshell on the world when he declared that the United States would take possession of Gaza and relocate the Gazan population to safer, greener pastures as the strip is unlivable due to Hamas’s reign of terror. The president suggested that a repeat of a past approach would yield predictable results. Anyone who has followed the work of Dermer or Glick over the years can reasonably surmise that the strategy offered by Trump, tactfully presented as a humane solution to the beleaguered population of Gaza, may have in part originated from their input.
Certainly, it is fascinating, and indeed assuring, to observe two American-born, English-speaking advisers by the side of Israel’s veteran prime minister as he plots the course for the nation’s future with, by his own account, the best friend the Jewish state has ever had in Trump.
