Donald Trump felt ‘betrayed’ by Israel’s surprise attack on Qatar, sparking a major decision that led to a historic peace deal and secured the release of Israeli hostages.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff revealed that the unprecedented strikes in Doha on September 9 left the White House seething, derailing peace talks with the Hamas negotiators it targeted.
The strikes forced the Hamas leaders ‘underground’, abruptly halting talks that Trump’s team had been holding with negotiators just one day prior, the pair told CBS’s 60 Minutes.
‘We woke up the next morning to find out there had been this attack,’ Witkoff said.
It marked the first crack in a relationship that was seen as unbreakable – Trump’s decades-long friendship with Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu that had defined his Middle East policy since the first administration.
The White House was oblivious to the Israeli prime minister’s plans to strike Doha, Witkoff explained, and said he and Kushner ‘felt betrayed’ by the attack.
CBS anchor Lesley Stahl responded that she heard Trump was ‘furious’ when he heard of the strikes, as Kushner said they triggered an abrupt change of course in the president’s approach to Israel.
‘I think he felt like the Israelis were getting a little bit out of control,’ Kushner said. ‘It was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long term interest.’
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (left) and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (right) revealed that Donald Trump was blindsided by Israel ’s assassination of Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar last month
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Hamas negotiators in Qatar on September 9 was seen as a ‘betrayal’ by Trump, and led the US President to change course after believing Israel was ‘getting a little bit out of control,’ Kushner said
The top US officials said the targeting of the very leaders that they were actively negotiating with was seen as a red line that Netanyahu dared to cross.
‘It had a metastasizing effect,’ Witkoff said.
‘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.’
Witkoff said losing the Qataris in that moment almost sunk their hopes of achieving a peace deal, because after the strikes in Doha, ‘it became very evident how important and how critical that role was.’
Images of smoke billowing over the Qatari capital last month stunned the world and caught leaders off guard, as it marked the first time Israel had ever attacked Qatar – a nation that Trump has grown increasingly close to in recent times.
Just months before, Trump announced that he had accepted a $400 million Boeing 747 luxury jet from the Qataris as a gift, and many in the president’s inner circle – including Kushner – have an array of business interests tied to the nation.
Smoke seen over Doha, Qatar on September 9 following the Israeli strikes on Hamas leaders
Kushner and Witkoff seen alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) after the historic peace deal between Hamas and Israel was reached on October 13
Trump quickly showed his disapproval of Netanyahu’s unexpected move in Doha.
Taking to Truth Social hours later, Trump wrote that he ‘immediately directed special envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did, however, unfortunately, too late to stop the attack.’
‘I view Qatar as a strong ally and friend and feel very badly about the location of the attack,’ Trump wrote.
‘I want ALL of the hostages, and bodies of the dead, released, and this War to END, NOW!’
Trump’s 20-point peace plan was signed in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on October 13 to mark the end of the two-year Gaza war.
The accord has reunited families torn apart by the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack and is being hailed as one of the most significant breakthroughs in decades, even as questions linger over how long the truce will last.
Soon after the peace deal was struck on October 13, shocking images emerged showing Hamas executing Palestinians that it perceived as ‘collaborators’ with Israel.
The move sparked fears that the peace deal could fall apart soon after it was reached, and in Witkoff and Kushner’s sit-down with 60 Minutes, Kushner said the actions were horrific, but not surprising.
‘Hamas right now is doing exactly what you would expect a terrorist organization to do, which is to try to reconstitute and take back their positions,’ Kushner said.
‘The success or failure of this will be if Israel and this international mechanism is able to create a viable alternative.
‘If they are successful, Hamas will fail, and Gaza will not be a threat to Israel in the future.’
