Of course, the fact that Dermer planned on resigning was no secret, but now that Netanyahu’s number one confidant is stepping down from his role, there are many unanswered questions—both about the minister and the hole he’ll leave in his absence.

But first, a quick reminder as to why he’s resigning now. As he wrote in his resignation letter, when he entered government in December 2022, he promised his family that he’d only be a minister for two years. Fate, however, had other plans, and he extended his stay, “the first time to work with you [Netanyahu] to remove the existential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear military capabilities and the second time to end the war in Gaza on the terms set by Israel and to bring our hostages home,” he explained.

Finally, the time has come for him to leave—and for Bibi to fill the enormous gap in the shape of Ron Dermer. Why? As I’ve written before, Dermer was far from an ordinary minister. He handled Israel’s most sensitive security and diplomatic cases: normalization with Syria; Lebanon after the Hezbollah ceasefire; Gaza’s future on the day after; normalization with Saudi Arabia; and, most crucially, relations with the United States.