Israeli Ambassador to Speak at Churchill Weekend 

His Excellency Ron Dermer, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, will be the keynote speaker for Churchill Fellows Weekend, to be held March 24-25 at the National Churchill Museum at Westminster College. 

Ambassador Dermer will deliver the Enid and R. Crosby Kemper Lecture on the topic of “Churchill and Israel” in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury on Sunday afternoon, March 25. 

“For nearly 50 years, the National Churchill Museum at Westminster College has honored annually leaders in academia, business and statecraft as we recognize Churchill Fellows,” says Timothy Riley, Sandra L. and Monroe E. Trout Director and Chief Curator of the National Churchill Museum. “We will do so again this year during Churchill Fellows Weekend with a special focus on Churchill and Israel, a rich and historic topic. We could not be more pleased to have His Excellency Ron Dermer, the Ambassador of Israel, with us for the occasion.” 

Winston Churchill was an early proponent for re-establishing a Jewish state in Israel and supported the World War I Balfour Declaration, a public statement issued by the British government in support of the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. Following World War I, he was involved in reshaping the Middle East and establishing Iraq.

Born in Miami Beach, Florida, Ambassador Dermer moved to Israel in 1996 and began the process of becoming an Israeli citizen the following year.

He worked as a political consultant for Natan Sharansky in the 1999 campaign and beginning in 2001 wrote a column entitled “The Numbers Game” for the Jerusalem Post.

In 2005 he gave up his American citizenship in order to assume the economic envoy position at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.

Ambassador Dermer became an advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu, who was elected prime minister in 2009, and today he is considered Netanyahu’s closest advisor and political consultant.

After four years as Netanyahu’s senior advisor (2009-2013), Dermer was made Israeli’s Ambassador to the United States.

In 2004, he co-authored the bestselling book, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, which has been translated into ten languages.

Ambassador Dermer holds a finance and management degree from the Wharton School of Business and a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University.

He is married with five children and lives in Washington, D.C.

The Embassy of Israel to the United States in Washington, D.C., is Israel’s largest agency in the world. The Embassy works as a liaison between the two countries to strengthen ties and present the foreign policy positions of the Israeli government.

Other details of Churchill Fellows Weekend and the registration process for events and meals will be announced in the coming weeks.

Click here to learn more about Churchill Fellows Weekend and the Association of Churchill Fellows