Ambassador to U.S. Dermer to represent Israel at memorials for McCain

McCain was a consistently staunch supporter of Israel.

John McCain (photo credit: REUTERS)
John McCain
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer will represent Israel at memorial services in Washington later this week for Senator John McCain, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
There are no plans to send a special delegation from Israel to attend the services on Friday and Saturday. McCain is scheduled to be buried in a private ceremony in Annapolis, Maryland on Sunday.
Eitan Weiss, Israel’s deputy consul-general in Los Angeles, will take part in a memorial ceremony on Thursday in Phoenix.
McCain was a consistently staunch supporter of Israel. On Sunday, Dermer posted a tweet saying, “Deeply saddened to hear the news about the passing of Senator John McCain, a great friend of Israel and a great champion of the US-Israel alliance.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on a visit to Lithuania when McCain died on Saturday, issued a statement calling McCain “a great American patriot and a great supporter of Israel.”
“I will always treasure the constant friendship he showed to the people of Israel and to me personally,” Netanyahu said. “His support for Israel never wavered. It sprang from his belief in democracy and freedom. The State of Israel salutes John McCain.”