Dermer, a former top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is a 42-year-old Florida native who studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University before immigrating to Israel in 1997. Between 2005 and 2008, Dermer served as the economic attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

“I feel proud and honored to serve as Israel’s ambassador to the United States,” Dermer wrote to Obama in the White House guest book. “America is a country to which the Jewish people owe so much and to which I, as a son of America, am so personally indebted. I look forward to working with you and your administration to make the bonds between Israel and America stronger than ever.”