From CNN, I'm Erin Matheson, with the five things you need to know for Monday, December

29th.

And we openly say it.

We want to make sure that the border area right next to our border is safe.

We don't have terrorists.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made these remarks after a closed-door meeting with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago today.

They covered a range of topics, including the possibility of another Israeli attack on Iran, if it rebuilds its missile program, and the conflict between Israel and Syria.

The two leaders also discussed moving forward with the second phase of the Gaza Peace Plan,

which includes the beginning of reconstruction, the establishment of post-war governance, and Hamas'

disarmament.

Here's how President Trump responded when asked if the group decides not to disarm.

Horrible for them. Horrible.

And I don't want that to happen.

But they made an agreement that they were going to disarm.

And you couldn't blame Israel. By the way, we have other countries that will come in and do it.

If they say they're not going to disarm, those same countries will go and wipe them out.

They don't even need Israel. You know, we have many countries, 59 countries that are in the great.

This is a real peace in the Middle East.

And Hamas is a small part of it, but it's still a part of it.

Hamas military wing said it would not abandon armed resistance and vowed to continue

fighting Israel.

More news coming up, including the latest on the U.S. military campaign against Venezuela and China's war games.

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