Jared Kushner Tells 60 Minutes The Israelis Needed ‘Us to Stop Them’ From Hurting Themselves: ‘We Felt a Little Bit Betrayed’

Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, two of President Donald Trump’s top Middle East negotiators, sat down with 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl this week. 60 Minutes released a preview of their discussion on Friday night ahead of Sunday’s show, which showed Kushner saying that he felt the Israelis “were getting a little bit out of control” and needed the U.S. to “stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long-term interests.”

Witkoff recalled the morning of Israel’s attack on Qatar in September, “And we woke up the next morning to find out that there had been this attack, and of course, I was called by the president. You had no idea? Obviously, none whatsoever. You know, I think both Jared and I felt—I feel we felt a little bit betrayed.”

“Now, I had heard that the president—that he was furious,” Stahl added.

“I think he felt like the Israelis were getting a little bit out of control in what they were doing and that it was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long-term interests,” Kushner replied.

“People should understand that Netanyahu, the Israelis, bombed the peacemakers, bombed a negotiating team,” Stahl noted.

Witkoff replied, “And by the way, Leslie, it had a metastasizing effect because the Qataris were critical to the negotiation, as were the Egyptians and the Turks. And we had lost the confidence of the Qataris. And so Hamas went underground, and it was very, very difficult to get to them.”

Stahl interjected, “And they were your link to Hamas. Absolutely. You were dealing through the Qataris to make your proposals to Hamas.”

“It became very, very evident as to how important and how critical that role was,” Witkoff added.

Watch the clip above via CBS.