“We have a very, very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza to make life better for the people in Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel,” Vance said in Jerusalem, speaking alongside Netanyahu.

“That’s not easy. I think the prime minster knows that as well as anybody. But it’s something that we’re committed to in the Trump administration,” Vance continued. “And I think that we’ve, even in the past 24 hours, had a lot of good conversations with our friends in the Israeli government, but also, frankly with our friends in the Arab world who are stepping up and volunteering to play a very positive role in this.”

“As the prime minister said, these are days of destiny, and we’re very excited to sit down and work together on the Gaza peace plan,” Vance added.

VANCE WARNS HAMAS AS GAZA PEACE PLAN’S CIVILIAN MILITARY COOPERATION CENTER OPENS

Vice President JD Vance meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.  (Marc Israel Sellem/Jerusalem Post/AP)

Netanyahu told reporters that Israel has an unmatched alliance and partnership with the U.S. that is generating opportunities for security and the expansion of peace in the Middle East.

Vance also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, telling reporters afterward, “We’re here to talk about how to ensure that the peace agreement that started about a week ago sticks, that we move into phase two, into phase three with success.”

JOHNSON, SCALISE DEMAND ANSWERS AFTER SUSPECTED HAMAS OPERATIVE DISCOVERED ON US SOIL

Vice President JD Vance and Israeli President Isaac Herzog shake hands during a meeting at the presidential residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (Leo Correa/AP)

The peace deal included the release of hostages being held by Hamas.

“As the president said, there will be torments along the way. It will be difficult, but I feel very optimistic based on my conversation with our Israeli friends and also with our Gulf Arab friends, that it’s possible that we actually can make peace stick, and that we can create the kind of environment where our Gulf Arab friends and our Israeli friends can build a better Middle East for everybody,” Vance added. “So that is the goal of the administration. We think that it’s in the best interest of the United States. We also think that it’s in the best interest of everybody who lives here.”

Vice President JD Vance meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.  (Marc Israel Sellem/Jerusalem Post/AP)

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Herzog said, “I truly believe that the fact you’re here is another brick in building the future for peace.”

“We all are grateful to President Donald Trump for his steadfast insistence on moving forward. We must move forward,” Herzog continued. “We must offer hope for the region, for Israel, the Palestinians, our neighbors, and for the future of our children.”

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

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Chung Dong-young made the remark as Trump is set to leave Friday night for a five-day trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, Reuters reported.

“The leaders of North Korea and the U.S. must not miss this chance,” Chung was quoted by Reuters as telling South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. “They need to make a bold decision.”

“It would help North Korea’s international standing and improve its people’s lives … and for that, peace and stability need to be guaranteed and that’s only possible by meeting President Trump,” Chung reportedly added.

TRUMP TOUTS KIM JONG UN RELATIONSHIP AMID SOUTH KOREA SUMMIT

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on June 30, 2019.  (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

A White House official noted that Trump and the North Korean leader met during his first term in office.

“President Trump in his first term held three historic summits with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un that stabilized the Korean Peninsula, the officials said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “U.S. policy on North Korea has not changed. President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong Un, but such a meeting is not currently on the schedule for this trip.”

The last time Trump and Kim met was on June 30, 2019, at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILES DAYS BEFORE TRUMP’S VISIT TO THE PENINSULA

President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un before a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27, 2019.  (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier this month, a White House official told Fox News Digital that, “President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong Un, without any preconditions.”

“President Trump in his first term held three historic summits with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un that stabilized the Korean Peninsula. U.S. policy on North Korea has not changed,” the official added.

In late September, Kim said he has “good personal memories” of Trump from their first meetings and there is “no reason not to” resume dialogue with the U.S. if it “abandons its delusional obsession with denuclearization,” according to The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump, left, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the North Korean side of the border at the village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, on June 30, 2019.  (Susan Walsh/AP)

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North Korea later test-fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday ahead of Trump’s departure to Asia.

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr, Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

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In 2006, America’s NATO allies agreed to spend2% oftheir GDPon defense. After several years of little progress, the Obama administration secured anupdated agreementin 2014 that all would achieve this goal by 2024.Yet when Trump first entered office in 2017, onlyfiveof 28 nations had met thatmark.

The president and his national security team, including me, pressed our allies hard back then to live up to their commitments.By 2021, the number of NATO members doing so haddoubledand allied military spending increased considerably.

President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks during a news conference following the NATO Summit on June 25, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. On the summit agenda was a new defense investment plan that raised the target for defense spending to 5% of GDP. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)

Fast-forward to 2025.Aided by the ongoing war in Ukraine and a European fear of Vladimir Putin, Trump managed to achieve what many thought impossible: convince our NATO allies to spend a whopping5% of their GDPson defense!

In the economic space, the White House has similarly persuaded other nations to live up to past obligations when it comes to trade, using tariffs and other means where necessary to do so. This should be more apparent when it comes to future trade talks with China.

The communist state hasviolatedits obligations and reneged on numerous agreements for decades, from the theft of intellectual property to currency manipulation and the unfair subsidization of Chinese companies. During Trump’s first term, for example, the PRC notablynever purchasedthe $200 billion in additional U.S. exports it had promised.

China may be the most notorious country when it comes to reneging on commitments, but it’s not the only one.Many of America’s friends are also culpable, especially when it comes to deals made with U.S. companies.I have seen this during my own time in the private sector.

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This is enough of a problem that the House Appropriations Committee recently wrote in the Augustreportof their FY2026 spending bill for national security, Department of State and related programs that it “continues to be concerned by reports of commercial disputes between United States entities and host governments….”

The committee noted “particular concern” about “disputes over real property seized, held or expropriated by foreign governments.”The report went as far as to call out the governments of the “Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Honduras, Kuwait, and Mexico.”

Allegedly, Mexico’s state-owned oil company PermexowesAmerican contractors $1.2 billion. Kuwait is purportedlyaccusedof not paying the U.S. for its financial obligations – including for its Al Zour refinery, one of the largest oil refinery projects in the Middle East – where it reportedly has left U.S. and other contractors unpaid.

And,per the State Department, many U.S. companies operating in Honduras have “voiced concerns regarding politically motivated threats of criminal prosecution and expropriation of private assets.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to media at Ben Gurion International Airport, as he departs Tel Aviv for Qatar following an official visit, near Lod, Israel, Sept. 16, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

The committee concluded its report by directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio “to utilize the various tools of diplomatic engagement to…. facilitate the timely resolution of such disputes.” Such action, of course, begins with America’s diplomats abroad.

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U.S. ambassadors who are already on station in foreign capitals facing such matters should press their host governments on all levels. As should those persons being put forward to the Senate for such assignments – beginning with Amer Ghalib, who testified Thursday at a hearingto be America’s next ambassador to Kuwait (currently the only vacant post in the House Committee’s call out list).

Further, a separate congressional hearing on the broader issue of foreign governments allegedly backpedaling on their agreements with U.S. companies would also be quite helpful.

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The administration has appropriately spoken about protecting U.S. jobs, preserving American innovation, and ensuring fairness when it comes to global trade and business. We have seen the president’s team act on these instincts.And given the business backgrounds of many in the administration, they surely appreciate the challenges that American companies face when addressing business disputes with foreign governments.

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Just as the president did this year by getting our NATO allies to live up to their spending commitments when it comes to bolstering the alliance, applying this same focus and energy to help U.S. firms resolve their disputes with foreign governments would go a long way to helping American companies and workers.

If our allies and friends want the benefits of partnership with the United States, they must also honor their commitments – to our country, our businesses and our workers. That’s another good way to put America first and promote U.S. economic growth and prosperity.

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Mark T. Esper, Ph.D., served as the 27th secretary of Defense.

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“I don’t think we’re seeing de-escalation from the unhinged leader of Colombia right now,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a White House briefing when asked what Petro could do to reduce tensions.

“I don’t think the president, frankly, is interested in that at this point,” Leavitt added.

Relations between the two countries have sharply deteriorated after Petro accused the U.S. of killing innocent fishermen during strikes targeting narco-traffickers in the Caribbean.

TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON COLOMBIA CRACKDOWN, CALLS PETRO ‘LUNATIC,’ VOWS TO END ALL US PAYMENTS OVER DRUGS

President Donald Trump is “not interested” in making peace with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the White House said Thursday, as tensions between Washington and Bogotá continue to escalate. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Following Petro’s accusation, Trump announced plans to cut off all counter-narcotics aid to Colombia and impose new tariffs on the country.

Trump lashed out at his South American counterpart, calling him a “thug” who is “making a lot of drugs.”

“They’re doing very poorly, Colombia. They make cocaine. They have cocaine factories … and he better watch it or we’ll take very serious action against him and his country,” Trump said. “What he has led his country into is a death trap.”

ALLIANCE WITH US ‘DISMANTLED’ BY LEFTIST PETRO REGIME, COLOMBIA’S FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS

Petro fired back, threatening to sue Trump in U.S. court.

“From the slanders that have been cast against me in the territory of the United States by high-ranking officials, I will defend myself judicially with American lawyers in the American justice system,” Petro wrote on X. “I will always stand against genocides and murders by those in power in the Caribbean.”

“When our help is required to fight against drug trafficking, American society will have it. We will fight against the drug traffickers with the states that want our help,” he added.

The US has conducted eight military strikes against Venezuelan narcoterrorists. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)

Petro has sought closer ties with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro while distancing Colombia — a major non-NATO ally — from the United States.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has conducted eight strikes on vessels believed to be transporting narcotics from Latin America. The world is now watching to see whether Trump will follow through on threats to strike Venezuelan soil — or even target Maduro himself, directly or indirectly.

Trump confirmed that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and also warned Colombia could face similar consequences.

A Venezuelan vessel was destroyed during a U.S. military strike off of Venezuela on Sept. 2, 2025. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)

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“Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Colombian Embassy in Washington sought to ease tensions, saying the U.S. representative in Bogotá recently met with Petro and that “both sides agreed to continue dialogue in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect. The meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment towards efforts against illicit drug trafficking, grounded in accuracy, coordination, and security.”

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