I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to a special edition of the Daily Punch, brought to you by Punch Bowl News.

I spoke on Monday with Ron Dermar, the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs.

Dermar is a well-known figure in Washington, especially for Daily Punch Listeners and Punch Bowl News Readers,

he was ambassador to the U.S. from 2013 to 2021. In his current role, he's responsible for the

U.S.-Israel relationship. Since Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel, Congress has not provided

a single extra dollar to Israel. Aid to Israel has been coupled with aid to Ukraine and Taiwan and has

been stuck in Congress. Speaker Mike Johnson tried to offset additional aid to Israel with cuts to the

IRS, but that fell flat. More recently, he tried to pass a clean Israel bill, and that didn't pass

either. We spoke about that, the situation in Gaza, the humanitarian situation in the

strip, and other critical issues in the relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

I am pleased to be talking to Rod Dermer, the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs, who is in

charge, at least in part, a part of his charge, is the U.S. Israel relationship, U.S. Israel ties talking to the White House.

And Mr. Dhrmer is a well-known figure in Washington, well-known to our readers and listeners.

He was the ambassador to the United States from 2013 to 2021, a close advisor of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

I appreciate you being here. Let's dig in.

You are five months into a brutal war with Hamas, nearly five months. And the United States, Congress

has provided exactly zero dollars of aid to help Israel beyond what has already been programmed

and already been appropriated over the years. You've long been an

observer of the American political system and of this relationship. How do you explain this

prolonged pause, I guess we'll call it? Well, first of all, it's good to be with you and to see

you again. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Second, obviously, we're very grateful for the assistance that we get from the United States

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