Day 637 - John Spencer and Lazar Berman: Is the IDF winning in Gaza?
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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."
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 so far.
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.
IMAGE: IDF forces operate in the Gaza Strip in this July 3, 2025, handout photo. (IDF)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's Friday Focus. |
| 0:05.5 | Today is Friday, July 4th. |
| 0:08.0 | I'm your host, Deputy Edna, Amanda Borschal Dan, here with our diplomatic correspondent, |
| 0:12.9 | Laser Bearman, and a very special guest. |
| 0:15.5 | We have John Spencer, who is the Chief of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point. So, John, |
| 0:23.5 | thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me, Amanda. A huge fan of the show. |
| 0:27.9 | Listen every day. I am such a huge fan of yours as well. And Laser, I'll welcome you to the show |
| 0:33.0 | as well, even though, of course, you are more of the host today than I am. |
| 0:37.5 | Thank you. |
| 0:38.0 | And I hope there's some fandom my way as well, but I'd understand if there's not. |
| 0:42.1 | That's fine. |
| 0:43.1 | I'm a huge fan of your years, T. Laser. |
| 0:45.6 | Thank you. |
| 0:46.1 | There you go. |
| 0:47.2 | We are all fans of each other. |
| 0:48.9 | And actually, because of a podcast that Laser and I had a couple weeks ago, which we called 10 truths |
| 0:55.7 | about the Gaza War 20 months in, John reached out to Laser and said he wanted to discuss |
| 1:02.6 | some of these 10 truths. So I'm actually here just to slightly facilitate the conversation right now. |
| 1:09.8 | But John, just before you dive in and |
| 1:12.4 | enlighten laser and our listeners a little bit on your version of the 10 truths, I just want to |
| 1:18.1 | ask you, overall, just a really very huge holistic picture in terms of all the hardships of |
| 1:25.8 | the urban warfare that is so unique in a way to |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times of Israel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times of Israel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.