By MEE staff
April 21,2025
Merav Ceren participated in negotiations for the Israeli ministry and has in the past criticised the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.
US President Donald Trump’s appointment of Merav Ceren to oversee Iran and Israel policy at the White House’s National Security Council could raise concerns about conflict of interest and security clearance.
Ceren previously worked at Israel’s Ministry of Defense, where she participated in negotiations in the occupied West Bank between Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, known as Cogat, and Palestinian Authority officials, according to a profile provided by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.
Ceren is listed as a 2016-2017 National Security Fellow at the think tank. Ceren was more recently the Deputy Policy Director for Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
An LA Times article from 2005 ,which noted Ceren’s work with NGOs in Israel, stated that she was born in Haifa, Israel, but returned to her “native country” in 2005 after moving to the US as a toddler.
Serving on the National Security Council (NSC) requires an extensive background check and top-secret security clearance. While it’s possible to maintain dual nationalities while having top secret clearance, traditionally, that can slow down the vetting process and raise concerns about conflict of interest. It is unclear whether Ceren has dual nationality.
Middle East Eye contacted NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes on the status of Ceren’s citizenship and security clearance, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.
Drop Site news first reported Ceren’s appointment.
Hughes confirmed Ceren’s appointment to Drop Site, saying, “Merav is a patriotic American who has served in the United States government for years, including for President Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Congressman James Comer.”
“We are thrilled to have her expertise in the NSC, where she carries out the President’s agenda on a range of Middle East issues,” he added in his statement to the news site.
Defending strikes on Gaza houses
In 2017, Ceren authored a book review of “The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower,” in The New Atlantis, arguing that Israel had made war “more just” through its advances in high-tech, precision weapons.
In her paper, Ceren argues that the US has benefited “materially and financially” by backing Israel through its defence industry.
“International contributions aren’t just good for Israel; they clearly benefit the countries providing support as well…Israel’s use of these weapons also illustrates potential applications in battlefields where the US and other Western armies increasingly find themselves operating,” she wrote.
In the article, Ceren also offered a defence of high-tech weapons to reduce civilian casualties. She defended the US’s early use of drone strikes in Pakistan, saying they limited civilian deaths.
The upper range estimates from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism show that out of 429 strikes between 2008-2017, nearly as many as 1,000 out of the 4,000 people killed in drone strikes were Pakistani civilians. Other estimates place the number of civilians killed as much higher.
Ceren also defended Israeli strikes on residential housing in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s 2008 war on the enclave, claiming that Hamas has used civilian homes to house arms.
Israel has imposed a full blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2006, creating what the UN and rights activists have said is an open-air prison.
Iran nuclear deal criticism
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