Speaking on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Trump negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff bluntly rebutted the charge of “genocide” that has been hurled at Israel as it fought its war of survival against the terrorist group Hamas.

Asked by host Lesley Stahl, “Would you say now, having been there, that it was genocide?,” Kushner declared, “No. No,” as Witkoff added, “Absolutely not. No, no, there was a war being fought.”

Kushner detailed what his team sees as the next phase after the cease-fire they arranged, which allowed Israeli hostages taken by Hamas to be returned.

“You can’t replace a corrupt government with another corrupt government,” Kushner said of Hamas. “So the goal here is to set up a transparent, good government. This can be very, very difficult to do, but we’re in the very early phases of trying to accomplish that.”

Stahl said, “Part of the plan is the reconstruction, the building, rebuilding of Gaza. And — you’re builders. You’ve been in real estate. As you said, it’s extremely complex. Tell us more about the plan and how much it’s gonna cost. Where is the money gonna come from? And who’s gonna award the contracts?”

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“You know, the estimates are in the $50 billion range,” Witkoff replied. “It might be a little bit less; it might be a little bit more. I happen to think that that’s not a lot of money in that region. You have governments that are gonna jump on in … you’ll see European participation and so forth.”

“We have plans already,” he continued. “We have a master plan already. And by the way — and Jared’s been pushing this and we’re working together on it — and I think if the world saw the progress so far they’d be pretty impressed.”

“By the way, none of the reconstruction money is gonna be going in until you have terror-free zones, because nobody wants to invest this money into a place where it’s just gonna get destroyed again by terrorism,” Witkoff elaborated.

“If Gaza is starting to show signs of being peaceful and not a threat to Israel, there’s nothing more that Israel would like more than to not have to have a heavy military presence there,” Kushner said.

Stahl turned to the antisemitism that has mushroomed since the October 7 Hamas massacre of more than 1200 Israelis, saying, “It seems that this war has created a rash of antisemitism everywhere.”

“Well, that’s unacceptable,” Witkoff replied.

“And it’s even going on in the United States of America,” Stahl pointed out.

“Well, that’s my point,” Witkoff said, then emphasized that President Trump agreed, adding, “That’s unacceptable. And that’s the president’s position.” 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Sunday that the U.S. military took out a drug-smuggling boat he said was connected to a Colombian terrorist group. 

According to Hegseth, the Department of War on Friday conducted a lethal kinetic strike targeting a vessel linked to the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a designated foreign terrorist organization. The ELN, also known as the National Liberation Army, is an insurgent group that clashes with the Colombian government. 

“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” Hegseth said. “There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”

On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.

The… pic.twitter.com/1v7oR879LC

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 19, 2025

“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people. The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda,” Hegseth added. 

Earlier this month, Hegseth set up a new counter-narcotics task force meant to target drug cartels operating in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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The ELN is one of the “one of the most powerful insurgent groups in Colombia,” according to the National Counterterrorism Center, which is staffed with personnel from various federal intelligence agencies. With around 2,500 fighters, the group aims to control portions of Colombia where drugs are produced through armed assaults, assassinations, extortion operations, and hostage-takings. 

The strike comes as President Donald Trump has been placing increased pressure on Colombian authorities to crack down on drug trafficking. Trump announced over the weekend that he would be cutting off foreign aid to the South American country. 

“They don’t have a fight against drugs. They make drugs. They refine drugs. They make cocaine. They have cocaine factories. They have no fight against drugs. And I’m stopping all payments to Colombia because they don’t have anything to do with their fight against drugs,” Trump said Sunday night. “They are a drug manufacturing machine, Colombia, and we’re not going to be part of it.”