Israeli parliament member Ohad Tal told Fox News Digital that striking a deal with Iran should not be the goal without first toppling its «evil, jihadist regime,» as President Donald Trump on Sunday called on both sides to come to the negotiating table. 

Tal, who sits on the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committees, spoke to Fox News Digital from outside of Jerusalem on Sunday as Israel and Iran traded strikes for a third day.  

«We are now engaging in a war with Iran, a war which I believe is historic, because we are now, finally, hopefully, we will liberate, not just ourselves, not just the Iranian people, but the entire world from the threat of the evil Iranian regime,» he said. 

Earlier Sunday, Trump said on TRUTH Social that «Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,» noting how his administration has successfully negotiated other conflict resolutions, including between India and Pakistan, «by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!» 

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Tal, however, made the distinction that the goal of the Ayatollah and the Muslim Brotherhood is the «destruction of Israel» and the «destruction of America.»   

«I think that our goal should be taking down the Iranian regime, because if you really want to put an end to the ambitions of Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, the only way to do that is by taking down this regime,» Tal said. «This regime has only one purpose, not to destroy Israel … they want to take down America.» 

He said more deals would only allow Iran to re-arm and re-develop their nuclear program. 

«I think just the idea of negotiating deals with a jihadist terror supporter regime is outrageous,» he continued. «I mean, the only goal we should have, we should all have, is taking down this evil regime. Again, if we really want to build a better future of stability and prosperity for everybody in the region, in the world, that should be the goal.» 

The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 15, 2025.  (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Trump has vetoed a plan floated by Israel to the U.S. to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a U.S. official told Fox News, amid concerns doing so would further destabilize the region. 

Tal told Fox News Digital that the West must face the reality that «we must take down this evil, jihadistic regime» not just to save the region, but the «entire world from this threat.» 

Since last Thursday, when the Israel Defense Forces launched a large-scale preemptive strike against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, key infrastructure and leadership, Tal said he’s received calls from Muslim and Arab leaders across the Middle East who told him, «You’re not just saving yourself, you’re saving us as well.» 

«That is the reality. Iran and the Ayatollahs are not just a threat to Israel, they are a threat to the entire world, and therefore I believe that by the fact that Israel is not looking the other way,» Tal said. «We’re not burying our head in the sand. We are standing in front of this threat, and we are fighting back. I think we are doing a big favor to the world.» 

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Tal said Iran has suffered «an unbelievable amount of damage» and the IDF «basically has total control over the Iranian airspace.» Israeli forces, he argued, are targeting military bases, nuclear facilities and officials, while Iran is targeting civilian populations. Some Iranian missiles have made it past Israel’s aerial defense systems. 

«That’s a culture that glorifies death, doesn’t care about civilian casualties, and we’re a culture that sanctifies life,» he said. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images | Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu via Getty Images | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | )

Tal said he has received support from U.S. officials, including members of Congress. 

He believes that Israel’s actions are in line with Trump’s «America First» policy, in that the ongoing operation will prevent the United States from being pulled into a broader conflict. 

«We’re getting the support from the Trump administration 100 percent,» Tal said. «Trump is supporting America First Policy. We are also supporting America First Policy because fighting this evil regime will help to prevent much, much bigger war.»

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«If the Iranians would have managed to get their desire and acquire a weapon, that would not have just been a threat to America,» he continued. «We’re not asking [for] American boots on the ground, we’re not asking America to fight for us. We’re just asking them to support us in taking away the threat coming from Iran.» 

Fox News’ Peter Doocy contributed to this report.

El crimen organizado se ha transformado en una herida abierta para la democracia en América Latina. De la época de los carteles de los años 80 y 90, evolucionamos hacia una etapa de fragmentación criminal, en la que los grupos armados diversificaron sus fuentes de ingresos, incorporando delitos como el contrabando de minerales, la trata de personas, el tráfico de armas, la extorsión, el secuestro y el lavado de activos. Pero ahora, hemos entrado en una etapa aún más peligrosa: la consolidación criminal.

Esta consolidación implica una fusión alarmante entre la criminalidad, el control social y la toma de poder político. Uno de los casos más preocupantes de esta tendencia es Colombia, un país que había logrado reducir significativamente sus índices de criminalidad en los últimos 25 años, sobre todo tras los acuerdos de paz con las FARC. Sin embargo, los recientes atentados —como el ataque contra el senador Miguel Uribe y más de una docena de acciones terroristas en ciudades como Cali— parecen marcar un giro hacia el pasado, con claros signos de retroceso en materia de seguridad, que evocan los días más oscuros del narcotráfico.

Colombia representa hoy el epicentro de lo que podríamos llamar un cóctel autoritario que comienza con la erosión de la democracia. Desde la elección del presidente Gustavo Petro, la polarización política se ha intensificado de manera preocupante. Los ataques a la institucionalidad, especialmente al Congreso, y la constante estigmatización de los opositores, forman parte de una narrativa cada vez más autoritaria. A este deterioro institucional se suma un resurgimiento del crimen organizado: asesinatos de líderes sociales, reclutamiento forzado de menores, y un récord histórico en cultivos de coca —casi 300.000 hectáreas— revelan una realidad que amenaza con sepultar los avances logrados.

En este contexto, el papel del régimen de Nicolás Maduro resulta clave para entender por qué Colombia parece regresar al pasado. Durante años, Venezuela ha servido como refugio y plataforma para grupos narcoterroristas, a quienes el chavismo ha ofrecido protección a cambio de financiamiento y respaldo político. Hoy, el ELN opera como una especie de “guardia fronteriza” del régimen venezolano, controlando territorios, traficando migrantes, armas y cocaína, e incluso planificando acciones desestabilizadoras contra Colombia desde suelo venezolano.

Lejos de promover la paz, Maduro ha instrumentalizado el conflicto colombiano como herramienta de chantaje político. Ha condicionado su papel como “mediador” a la normalización de su dictadura, y recientemente ha acusado a Estados Unidos de intentar derrocar al presidente Petro —una narrativa que han replicado tanto las disidencias de las FARC como el propio mandatario colombiano. Esta coincidencia discursiva no es menor: refleja la fragilidad institucional de Colombia, y la permeabilidad de su liderazgo frente a influencias externas.

Estos acontecimientos revelan no solo una crisis interna, con un presidente dispuesto a tensar los límites del poder y explotar la división social para sus propios fines, sino también una vulnerabilidad regional más amplia. Colombia difícilmente podrá aspirar a una paz duradera mientras Venezuela siga siendo un santuario para estructuras criminales que socavan la soberanía y la estabilidad democrática.

La dictadura de Maduro, con su respaldo irrestricto a grupos terroristas y su apertura geopolítica a potencias como China, Rusia, Irán y Cuba, representa hoy uno de los principales desafíos para el orden democrático en América Latina. Pensar que estas potencias se limitan a instalarse en Venezuela sin buscar expandir su influencia sería ingenuo. Venezuela se ha convertido en una cabeza de playa desde la cual se proyecta una agenda autoritaria y antioccidental que busca socavar los valores democráticos en todo el hemisferio, disfrazada de cooperación económica y solidaridad internacional.

Colombia se encuentra en una encrucijada histórica. El retorno a los patrones de violencia y captura territorial por parte de actores armados no es solo un problema de seguridad: es una manifestación de la fragilidad democrática en un país que, por décadas, ha estado atrapado entre la guerra y la esperanza.

La consolidación criminal, el debilitamiento institucional y la influencia de regímenes autoritarios externos componen un triángulo de inestabilidad que debe ser enfrentado con claridad, firmeza y visión regional. La paz no es un decreto: es un proceso colectivo que requiere Estado de derecho, justicia social y soberanía territorial real. Y, sobre todo, la paz en Colombia no será posible mientras la dictadura en Venezuela siga exportando violencia, refugiando terroristas y cultivando una agenda autoritaria que no conoce fronteras.

Former Biden-era White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly left the Democratic Party in her rear-view mirror, announcing in June that she had become an Independent after spending more than two years as President Joe Biden’s top spokesperson and defender. 

«Our country has become obsessed with blind loyalty to a two-party democratic system. In her new book, timed for publication just one year after the 2024 election, Karine Jean-Pierre shares why Americans must begin to look beyond party lines and why she chose to embrace life as an Independent,» a press release announcing Jean-Pierre’s upcoming book, «Independent,» stated while revealing that the former spox had ditched the Democratic Party. 

«Jean-Pierre didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly, she has served two American presidents, Obama and Biden. . . . She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,» the press release continued. 

Fox News Digital took a look back at Jean-Pierre’s history as press secretary – which spanned from May 13, 2022, until January 20, 2025 – including the most partisan stances and statements she made in defense of the administration as the immigration crisis spiraled to new highs, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the administration embraced transgender issues, and the White House’s heated rhetoric aimed at President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election. 

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«We are not finishing a wall. We are cleaning up the mess that the prior administration made. We are trying to save lives. This is what the prior administration left behind that we are now cleaning up,» Jean-Pierre declared from the White House briefing room’s podium in July of 2022, as the Biden administration said it would not continue work on the Trump administration’s border wall. 

 «A border wall is an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars, so it’s ineffective,» she added. 

Months later, as Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S.-Mexico border because of health concerns was set to expire, Jean-Pierre argued, «It would be wrong to think that the border is open. It is not open.»

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Migrants attempting to cross in to the U.S. from Mexico are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the border on August 20, 2022, in San Luis, Arizona.  (Nick Ut/Getty Images)

Critics at the time slammed the press secretary over the comment, calling the comment a «bold-faced lie» as migrants were seen coming across the border with little consequences. 

The Biden administration was in power when the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision effectively ending the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June of 2022, with Jean-Pierre calling the ruling «extreme.» 

«When the Supreme Court made that extreme decision on Dobbs, it really put a lot of families and women’s lives at risk,» she said during a press conference in July of 2022. 

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The Biden White House frequently celebrated LGBTQ holidays during its four years, including fiercely defending transgender issues and policies that the Trump administration has since ended. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

«Tomorrow is Trans Visibility Day,» Jean-Pierre said during a March 2023 press conference slamming Republicans who put forth legislation that aimed to keep biological boys out of girls’ sports and end transgender surgeries for minors. «On a day that we should be lifting up our trans kids and our trans youth and making sure that they feel seen, we’re seen more and more of these hateful, hateful bills.»

«We’ve been very clear about these anti-LGBTQ bills that we’re seeing in state legislatures across the country, in particular these anti-trans bills, as they attack trans kids, as they attack trans parents. It is shameful, and it is unacceptable,» she added. 

In the months leading up to Election Day, Trump faced two separate assassination attempts, including one in Butler, Pennsylvania, during a campaign rally in July that left him with an injury to the side of his head after a bullet whizzed towards him, and another in September when a man attempted to kill Trump while he played golf in Florida. 

President Trump survived an assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania in July. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)

«It’s been only two days since somebody allegedly tried to kill Donald Trump again, and you’re here at the podium in the White House briefing room calling him a threat,» Fox News’ Peter Doocy pressed during a news conference in September of 2024. «How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president and the vice president and you pick a different word to describe Trump other than ‘threat’?»

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden had both repeatedly claimed that «Democracy is on the ballot» last year amid Trump’s re-election campaign. While the White House, Biden and Harris additionally described Trump as a «threat» to democracy, Fox Digital previously extensively reported. 

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President Joe Biden speaks at an event just days before his administration ended.  (AP/Susan Walsh)

Jean-Pierre exhaled in a sign of disapproval before answering: «Peter, if anything, from this administration, I actually completely disagree with the premise of your question, the question that you’re asking. It is also incredibly dangerous in the way that you are asking it, because American people are watching. And to say that, when you start bringing political rhetoric. . . . That is not okay.»

«There are people watching at home who might miss the part where you say, let’s lower the temperature. And there are mentally unstable people who are attempting to kill political candidates, attempting to kill Donald Trump. And they are still hearing this White House refer to him as a threat. Is there no concern?» Doocy continued in the press conference. 

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«We’re using examples. We’re not just saying that just to say it,» Jean-Pierre responded.