Several pro-Israel officials cut from Trump administration, worrying Jerusalem

Two NSC appointments and the deputy to Special Envoy to the Middle East in charge of Lebanese affairs were recently dismissed from their positions.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Several pro-Israel officials were recently dismissed from their positions in the Trump administration in a move that concerns Jerusalem.

Two were in senior positions in the National Security Council, having been appointed by Mike Waltz, the recently ousted national security adviser who now serves as the American ambassador to the United Nations.

Merav Ceren, an Israeli-born national and economic security expert, was named as the director for Israel and Iran at the National Security Council (NSC) in April.

Before her promotion, Ceren served as the deputy policy director for national security and science in a U.S. Senate Committee. She noted on her resume that she previously served in a negotiating role for Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories and Palestinian Authority officials.

Middle East and North Africa senior director Eric Trager, a Jewish expert on Egypt and the Egyptian branch of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, was brought on board soon after Trump’s inauguration. He took the place of Brett McGurk, who had been heavily involved in the Israel-Hamas hostage negotiations and the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.

A third Waltz appointee was now reassigned in the State Department to a non-Middle East role.

Morgan Ortagus, considered one of the biggest Israel backers in the administration, was deputy to Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff in charge of the Lebanon portfolio. A convert to Judaism, she was an important member of the team that negotiated the terms of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, credited with pushing through a tough stance in Beirut against Hezbollah’s future freedom of action.

American sources told Lebanon’s MTV media outlet that her dismissal “stem[s] from her working relationships within the State Department” and not her actions regarding Israel’s northern neighbor.

Ceren’s and Trager’s firings were not necessarily connected to their Middle East views. The two NSC staffers were cut along with many dozens of officials in the advisory body in a downsizing move that had been signaled by a Trump administration as part of its targeting tens of thousands of government jobs in a well-publicized money-saving effort.

All three moves were reportedly made by Waltz’s successor as NSA, Secretary of State Marc Rubio, an outspoken supporter of the Jewish state.

Based on Israeli sources, Ynet reported that the dismissals were “part of Trump’s ongoing attempt to weaken the National Security Council and consolidate control of U.S. foreign policy in his own hands.”

However, the outlet also cited “senior officials” who said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “deeply concerned” that the moves reflected a “shift in U.S. policy toward Israel.”