In an interview with Israel Hayom which will be published in full tomorrow, Dermer says the world will "unequivocally," allow this to take place. "No one wanted North Korea and Pakistan to acquire nuclear capability, but they did," he continues. "Neither Obama nor Biden want to see a nuclear Iran but it will happen if we (Israel) don't prevent this from happening."
"The Iranians want to turn Israel into South Korea, and Tel Aviv into Seoul. They want to surround us with a ring of accurate conventional weapons and create a balance of terror, so that every time someone fires a rocket from Gaza, we think twice about responding. 15 years into the nuclear deal, when we'll expect the international community to deny them nuclear weapons, they will possess such conventional military power that people will say, 'It's too late to stop them. They will destroy Tel Aviv.' Whoever believes that by the end of the agreement period we will have all the options available now is wrong. We won't," states Dermer.
Dermer rejects Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's claim that Netanyahu neglected the Iranian issue. "This is a statement detached from reality. For 20 years, including four years in the Prime Minister's Office and another seven years in the embassy in Washington, I observed how Netanyahu mobilized the world to exert international pressure on Iran. He is the one who convinced many factors in the international system, partly because they understood that he was ready to act, and this caused more pressure. Netanyahu was the most active factor in the Israeli and international community on this issue, and there are many things that remain unknown. He believed he was responsible for doing everything in his power to stop Iran and so he did."
Dermer accuses senior Israeli officials of undermining government policy during the Obama administration. "There were people who prevented the prime minister from doing his job in defending Israel's interests. This was true between 2009 and 2012, when people acted against the military option, and also in the fight against the nuclear agreement in 2013-2015."
Dermer, one of Netanyahu's closest advisers during the former premier's 20-year tenure, played a crucial role in the historic decisions made by former President Trump regarding Israel. Throughout his years in office, he has avoided the Israeli media, and in the interview explained the reasons for this while harshly criticizing the performance of some journalists. "There is a whole group of journalists who have no limit to their cynicism towards the politicians in this country. But for some reason, when they board a plane and cross the ocean, their cynicism disappears. When an American president says something, they become naïve. I found myself spending hours dealing with written or spoken nonsense," he says.
In the extensive interview, the former ambassador also reveals the reason for the extension of his term to seven years along with details about ties with the Trump administration, the affair surrounding F-35 aircraft requested by the United Arab Emirates and Israel's efforts to secure the release of Jonathan Pollard. Dermer also responds to allegations against him and Netanyahu regarding a chill in ties with the Democratic Party and America's Jewish community.
