A reporter asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Vice President JD Vance during Vance's visit this week to Jerusalem whether the U.S. pressuring Israel to make a peace deal with Hamas makes it an American "vassal state or protectorate.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha attended a private Mass celebrated by Franciscan monks at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem Thursday.

Vance also expressed optimism about the ceasefire plan after a turbulent weekend where two Israeli soldiers were shot and killed, threatening to upend the week-old ceasefire as part of the first phase of President Donald Trump’s agreed to 20-point peace plan between Israel and Hamas.

In a visit to Israel, US vice-president JD Vance said on Tuesday that the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire plan was “going better than expected,” but warned the Palestinian militant group it would be obliterated if it did not co-operate.

Vice President JD Vance had a tense interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Oct. 12, which led to the This Week anchor cutting Vance off and sending the show to commercial break.

As the presidents of the United States and China prepare to meet on the sidelines of an economic summit in South Korea — an encounter that may not actually happen — some foreign-policy strategists in Washington are not just worried but aghast.