Israeli media have revealed that the reason behind the recent dismissal of three senior officials in the administration of US President Donald Trump is that they were “widely seen as strongly supportive of Israel.”
Citing informed sources, Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth said the Trump administration recently sacked three senior officials from the White House and the National Security Council due to their pro-Israel stances.
Merav Ceren, a dual US-Israeli citizen in charge of the Iran and Israel portfolio at the National Security Council, and Eric Trager, who oversees West Asia and North Africa, were two American officials who were recently removed from their posts.
Both had been appointed by former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, a staunch supporter of Israel, who was himself dismissed by Trump.
Morgan Ortagus, deputy to special envoy Steve Witkoff and the official handling the Lebanon portfolio, was another high-profile figure expected to depart as she is considered to be one of the strongest supporters of Israel within the US administration.
Ortagus played a key role in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Lebanon and in persuading the Lebanese government to take a firm stance against the Hezbollah resistance movement and disarm Palestinian refugee camps.
The 42-year-old diplomat is said not to be promoted or assigned to any foreign missions, and is expected to be reassigned to internal tasks within the State Department and will have no further role in Witkoff’s team.
The Israeli regime voiced growing concern over the three dismissals within the US administration, not ruling out the possibility that more pro-Israel officials may be removed over escalating tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv over Iran and the Gaza war.
“The reshuffling comes amid rising tensions between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a potential strike on Iran and the ongoing war in Gaza,” the Hebrew-language paper said.
“In the Trump administration, decisions often come abruptly,” it added. “These removals are not occurring in a vacuum, but rather reflect a broader distancing” between Israel and the Trump administration, “which appears to be pursuing its own strategic calculus.”
Citing unnamed Israeli officials, Yedioth Ahronoth said that Netanyahu is “deeply” troubled by new developments in Washington, particularly the growing influence of figures like political commentator Tucker Carlson.
“These are dangerous people influencing President Trump,” one senior official said. “They are sowing suspicion toward Israel and telling Trump that Israel is trying to drag the US into war. This is the new America, and it’s deeply concerning to Netanyahu.”
Enjoying unrelenting support from the United States in the fields of intelligence, logistics and finance, the Israeli regime launched its Gaza genocide on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance movement carried out a military operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 124,00 others, in the besieged territory.
Tel Aviv has also time and again threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if the ongoing Tehran-Washington talks, mediated by the Sultanate of Oman, hit a dead end.
Last year, the Islamic Republic launched hundreds of missiles towards the Israeli-occupied territories as part of Operation True Promise l and II in response to the illegal regime’s aggression on its embassy in Syria as well as assassinations of senior leaders of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance and a senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
