Cabinet approves Dermer as US envoy

The cabinet on Sunday unanimously approved the appointment of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s close associate Ron Dermer as Israel’s next ambassador to the US.

Netanyahu called Dermer, who served as his top policy adviser from his election in 2009 until March of this year, as one of the most “talented and dedicated” people I know, and said there was no worthier candidate for the job.

Dermer will replace outgoing Ambassador Michael Oren, who Netanyahu said did an “outstanding” job over the last four years. Dermer is expected to take up the post in October. • Herb Keinon

Lapid: Haredim will soon enter workforce

Some 28,000 haredim will receive notices in the coming months that they are free to leave their institutions of Torah learning and enter the workforce without having to worry about serving in the army, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid wrote in a message to his supporters Sunday.

Lapid said he hoped that the recommendations of the Peri Committee, after they are passed into law, will enable 70 percent of the haredim to serve the country in one way or another in three years.

He mocked the United Torah Judaism MKs who protested the passage of the Peri Committee recommendations, suggesting that UTJ MK Meir Porush, who handcuffed himself to a Knesset lectern, should never have been unlocked. • Gil Hoffman

Israeli team earns math Olympiad medals

The high school and junior high school teams that represented Israel at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Santa Marta, Colombia, has won six medals – one gold, three silver and two bronze. The Israeli team was ranked 13th among 97 participating countries, it was announced Sunday. They trained over three months at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences’ Davidson Institute of Science Education.

Omri Solan of Herzliya’s Rishonim High School in Herzliya was the gold medal winner and ranked fifth out of 45 gold medal winners. Amotz Oppenheim of the Shevah Mofet High School in Tel Aviv, Nitzan Tur of the Alliance-Kol Israel Haverim High School in Haifa and Tom Kalvari of the Kfar Hayarok High School were silver medalists. Yoav Kraus of the Ephraim Katzir High School in Holon and Ofer Grossman received bronze medals. At last year’s Olympiad in Argentina, the Israeli team was ranked 31st, winning three silver and one bronze medal and an honorary mention. • Judy Siegel