Former Israel-U.S. Ambassador Ron Dermer told a Las Vegas Valley gathering Wednesday night that Jewish people have to lead the fight against antisemitism and can do so with the help of Israel.
At his “Unite. Fight. Lead” national tour stop, Dermer highlighted the importance of Israel to Jewish people worldwide, past and present antisemitism and the state and future of the U.S.-Israel alliance.
He also defended his nation’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, when he formed part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet after Hamas-led militants slaughtered more than 1,200 mostly-civilian Israelis.
Dermer, who was instrumental in the release of Israeli hostages during the conflict, spoke to a few dozen people at Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson. He answered questions from Rabbi-Cantor Jessica Hutchings.
Rising antisemitism
Dermer told the group he wasn’t surprised about a present rise in antisemitism.
The Anti-Defamation League reported more than 6,200 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. in 2025, a decrease from the previous year, but still the third highest number since 1979.
“I think a lot of Jews are surprised; they’re almost shocked by what’s happening,” Dermer said. “And I think the reason why we’re surprised is because we don’t remember our history. And in fact, the Holocaust has distorted our view of our own history.”
That’s because the hatred of Jewish people has gone through ebbs and flows throughout history, he explained. It didn’t start during the Holocaust and hasn’t stopped, he added.
“Anybody who gets on a stage (with) you and says, ‘We’re going to end antisemitism,’ doesn’t know anything about Jewish history,” he said. “We’re not going to end it, but we can push it way back, and we can push the antisemites back under the rocks where they belong.”
Criticism of Israel is valid as long as the state isn’t demonized, held to a double standard or delegitimized, Dermer said.
“It won’t give you 100 percent of antisemitism, but if you look at those three Ds,” he said. “Is there demonization — these wild attacks — a double standard, a denial of Israel’s right to exist? That gets you to about 95 percent of the antisemitism that’s out there.”
He added: “And the rest is legitimate criticism because we’re a country like any other that you can criticize.”
Antisemitism and anti-Zionism
Recent polling shows a dip in support for Israel.
Pew Research reported in July that 52 percent of Americans viewed Israeli people in favorable terms, compared with 67 percent in 2022. Favorability for Israel’s government had fallen from 47 percent four years ago to 32 percent now.
U.S. support for Israel has varied over the years, but the close alliance is strong because it benefits American interests with the sharing of technology, intelligence and security, Dermer said.
He added that he’s not worried of a future anti-Israel president, but he said he would worry about one who doesn’t understand that reality.
Debate around antisemitism has centered around the term anti-Zionist.
“Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have a right to sovereignty in their ancestral homeland,” Dermer explained. “That’s all it means.”
Dermer said advocating for anti-Zionism is advocating for the destruction of Israel, making those with that ideology antisemitic, whether they know it or not.
Dermer delved into American politics, accusing Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan U.S. Senate nominee, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and conservative media personality Tucker Carlson of being antisemites. The three figures have defended themselves, countering that their criticism of Israel does not constitute criticism of Jewish people.
They could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national left-leaning, pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist advocacy nonprofit that accuses other U.S. Jewish institutions of conflating Jewishness with Zionism.
“We vehemently oppose antisemitism and are committed to dismantling antisemitism wherever it occurs,” JVP told the Review-Journal in a statement. “We are also committed to calling out false allegations of antisemitism that are used to silence those who hold the Israeli government accountable for its war crimes.”
The statement added that Dermer is sowing confusion when he misuses antisemitism to attack critics of what its organization calls the “Israeli genocide.”
“Sloppy allegations like Dermer’s actually create fertile grounds for increased antisemitism and facilitate the rise of fascism and authoritarianism,” the statement said.
Defense of war in Gaza
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in mid-June that deaths from the Hamas-Israel war had surpassed 73,000 in Gaza, according to the Associated Press. Experts and international organizations like the U.N. Human Rights Council and Amnesty International have labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, the AP has reported.
Codified globally in 1948 after the Holocaust, genocide constitutes actions “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Other experts and officials, including President Donald Trump and the Elie Wiesel Foundation have disputed the term for the Israeli war. The Israeli government has vehemently denied the accusation.
Dermer disputed the number of people killed and said most of them were legitimate targets. He added that Israeli forces had repeatedly warned the people of Gaza of Israeli targets and had helped evacuate war zones and allowed aid to go into the territory.
Hamas members, he said, were the ones who put civilians in danger and intended to commit their own genocide on Oct. 7, 2023.
“It’s not that there’s no war. It’s not that there’s no suffering,” he said. “It’s not that innocents (wouldn’t) be killed in war, that’s all true. But a genocide? It’s absurd, and we have to push back against it.”
‘Incredible speaker’
Stefanie Tuzman is the president and CEO of Jewish Nevada, a coalition that seeks to take care of the needs of roughly 76,000 Jewish Nevadans.
“He’s an incredible speaker,” she said of Dermer. “I think that he’s been giving real tactical tools on how to combat and fight antisemitism; how to know when something is misinformation, and how we can address it appropriately.”
Questions from Hutchings, the congregation leader, prompted most of Dermer’s statements.
She told the Review-Journal that Israel is important to her congregation and that her congregants’ politics vary, including their thoughts about Israel and Gaza.
“I think it gives a voice to our community to remind us that even in these uncertain times, these times when we’re facing a lot of antisemitism, specifically Jew hatred, (that) there’s a way for us to have optimism to have hope for a future,” she said about relations between Jewish people, their relationship with Israel and that country’s relationship with the U.S.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
