Iraq News Now

Trump announces pro-Israel commentator to Mideast post then ridicules her

With two weeks left until the inauguration, US President-elect Donald Trump is staffing up fast - sometimes announcing six or seven White House appointments a day on his TruthSocial platform. 

Late on Friday, however, came perhaps his most awkward announcement yet: that of his former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus to the role of deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East Peace. 

She would serve, he said, under real estate tycoon Steven Witkoff, who has reportedly already made trips to the region for Gaza ceasefire talks. 

But it was the rest of the language within the post that caused many on social media to describe it as “demeaning”, leading to calls for Ortagus to reject the appointment. 

“Early on Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson,” Trump wrote. “These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them. Let’s see what happens.”

Still, Ortagus readily accepted the role.

“I am honored,” she wrote on X. 

“To be given the opportunity to once again represent my country and the Trump Administration in a crucial diplomatic role is [a] dream come true. The most important thing is that through President Trump, we bring peace and stability to a troubled region, and I'm grateful to play a small role in that endeavor.”

Views on Middle East 

The 42-year-old Floridian currently hosts a foreign policy talk show on SiriusXM radio and is a frequent political commentator on Fox News. 

She started her career in government under the George W Bush administration, where she worked at the United States Agency for International Development and was posted to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Ortagus famously attended a Hanukkah ceremony held at a palace previously belonging to Iraq’s deposed leader, Saddam Hussain. 

While in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, some years later, working on stemming terrorist financing for the US Department of the Treasury under the Barack Obama administration, Ortagus converted to Judaism and said she was glad to do so in secret because she was “surrounded by people who hate Jews”, according to an interview with Jewish Insider.   

During the first Trump administration, she became the State Department spokesperson in 2019 to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and played a key role in promoting the Abraham Accords - the 2020 normalisation deals between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, all brokered by the Trump White House. 

Ortagus is staunchly pro-Israel and a fierce critic of Iran and any attempt to bring the US back into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the Obama and Biden-brokered agreement in 2018. 

The Biden administration, she said, “spent four years empowering the Iranian regime,” whereas under Trump, “We empowered Israel and the Sunni Arab states - the Gulf Arab states - and said, ‘No, we're going to reward our friends',” she told Fox Business in October. 

With Biden’s team working on a Lebanon-Israel ceasefire deal then, Ortagus indicated there was no need for one. 

“Israel and Bibi Netanyahu have done the opposite of what [Joe] Biden and [Kamala] Harris have asked them to do, and it has worked out brilliantly for them,” she said in that same interview. “I think they should continue to do that.” 

Ortagus described on X that Israel’s booby-trapped pager attack in Lebanon was “arguably the most precise, discriminate, and successful intelligence operation in urban warfare history”. 

On Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has so far killed over 45,000 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, Ortagus has repeatedly praised Israel’s tactics, which included “decimating Hamas and turning its terror bases into rubble”, she said on X. 

“It restored deterrence by eliminating Hamas and Hezbollah's top leaders, defended itself against direct Iranian attacks, and freed over 100 hostages from Gaza,” she wrote on 2 January. 

“Hamas cannot be in charge in Gaza” under any circumstances, she told NewsNation on the first anniversary of the war. 

On Monday, Ortagus was congratulated on X by the Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog.

"I am confident that you will represent the United States with dedication, skill and professionalism and work dilligently to enhance the Israel-US partnership," he wrote.

Congratulations to @MorganOrtagus on your appointment to the important role of deputy Middle East envoy. Knowing you, I am confident that you will represent the United States with dedication, skill and professionalism and work dilligently to enhance the Israel-U.S. partnership… pic.twitter.com/kIFevEAKeq

— Ambassador Michael Herzog (@AmbHerzog) January 6, 2025

She also received well wishes and praise from the Israel Heritage Foundation, which called her "a true friend". 

Mazal Tov & warmest congratulations to Mrs. Morgan Ortagus, a true friend and dedicated supporter of the Israel Heritage Foundation, on her appointment as Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Middle East Peace! May this new role bring you opportunities to spread happiness and…

— Israel Heritage Foundation (IHF) (@IHF_Heritage) January 7, 2025

Like many on Trump’s incoming team, Ortagus advocates “peace through strength”.

“You don’t get peace through appeasing enemies,” she said in 2020.