Welcome to The Times of Israel’s newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what’s behind the news that spins the globe.
This week, we’re joined by John Spencer, the chief of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, a research center dedicated to the study of war and warfare. Spencer is a retired major in the US Army and is a leading expert in military operations in dense and subterranean urban areas.
Spencer reached out to us after we released a Friday Focus podcast, “10 truths about the Gaza war, 20 months in,” based on Berman’s in-depth analysis, “For now, victory is still within reach: 10 truths about the Gaza war, 20 months in.”
More from Friday Focus
July 18, 2025Friday Focus with Lazar Berman: Who are the Druze and why is Israel protecting them?
July 11, 2025Friday Focus: Former hostage Keith Siegel wants to have hope
June 27, 2025Friday Focus with Lazar Berman: Israel-Iran war's aftershocks for Russia and China
June 20, 2025Friday Focus with Lazar Berman: How Israel stopped the bomb in 1981 and 2007
June 13, 2025Friday Focus with Lazar Berman: Has Israel finally launched a counterinsurgency in Gaza?
This conversation can be viewed in full here:
Today’s conversation is a meeting of the minds in which Berman and Spencer delve into the nuts and bolts of the war in Gaza to date.
Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and the video was edited by Thomas Girsch.
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