Witkoff and Kushner: Israel betrayed us when it attacked Qatar.
After reaching a prisoner swap and ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as well as implementing its first paragraph regarding the release of prisoners from both sides, Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s representatives in the negotiations leading to the agreement, gave an interview to the CBS program “60 Minutes” and said that they felt “betrayed” after Israel attacked Qatar.
Two of US President Donald Trump’s top aides in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations, Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkoff, revealed that Israel’s attack on Qatar was carried out during efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement and that they therefore felt betrayed.
The statements were made in an exclusive interview with the CBS program 60 Minutes, which will be broadcast in full tomorrow (Sunday). According to the report, Whitkoff was informed of the action the morning after the attack, in which Israel targeted senior Hamas officials in Doha. Trump also wrote on his social media account at the time that “this decision was made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, not me.”
“I think both Jared and I felt… maybe a little betrayed,” Whittaker told the program’s reporter. Kushner added that Trump felt the Israelis were losing control of their actions, and it was time to stop them from doing things that were not in their long-term interests.
The attack severely damaged the negotiation efforts, according to Whittaker, because Qatar was acting as the main mediator between Trump’s representatives and Hamas. “It had an indirect effect,” he explained. “The Qataris were essential to the negotiations, as were Egypt and Turkey. We lost the trust of the Qataris, and Hamas went underground. They were very difficult to reach.”