US special envoy Steve Witkoff (C) speaks as US businessman Jared Kushner (L) and his wife

 

 

Witkoff, Kushner Spark Criticism by Defending Hamas, Criticizing Israel

 

20 October 2025

By Joel B. Pollak

Reprinted from Breitbart

 

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner sparked controversy Sunday by defending Hamas’s good faith in the Gaza ceasefire, and suggesting Israel needs to treat Palestinians better.

 

Witkoff and Kushner were interviewed by CBS News’ 60 Minutes ahead of their arrival in Israel to assist in implementing the Gaza ceasefire, which was shaken over the weekend by Hamas violations. Hamas has not complied with commitments to return all 28 bodies of dead Israeli hostages, and is still 16 bodies short. In addition, Hamas fired upon Israeli soldiers on Sunday, killing two and triggering airstrikes in response.

Witkoff told CBS that he had bonded with a Hamas leader over their shared loss of their sons.

Both men stressed that they believed Hamas intended to honor the deal and had negotiated in good faith.

Kushner also said: “The biggest message that we’ve tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that, now that the war is over, if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better.”

That led, in turn, to criticism that pressure belongs on the Arab and Muslim world, which has fueled radical desires among Palestinians to destroy Israel.

Israelis have been grateful to both Witkoff and Kushner, even to the exclusion of gratitude toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though the latter posted videos Sunday of hostage families thanking him.

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Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.