Day 749 - Lazar Berman: Does Israel rely on the US to end its wars?
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan and diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.
Since US President Donald Trump's whirlwind visit to the Jewish state on Monday of last week, Israel has welcomed a revolving roster of high-level officials visiting the country.
This week saw the arrival of Trump’s senior Middle East advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance — and his wife Usha — and also US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
As their visits spur accusations that Israel is becoming a "client" or vassal state of the US, controversial MK Avi Maoz brought a bill that passed in a preliminary reading in the Knesset on Wednesday. The bill would apply Israeli sovereignty to all West Bank settlements despite opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most, but not all, of his Likud party.
US officials quickly rebuked the annexation efforts in the Knesset, calling them "counterproductive" even as the Trump administration attempts to cement the recent ceasefire into a lasting peace deal.
If the US succeeds, it wouldn't be the first time that an Israeli war was ended through US efforts. This week, Berman takes a historical look at other examples and examines the question of whether Israel is, indeed, relying on its "partner" the US to wind down its wars.
Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
IMAGE: Lazar Berman (courtesy)/ From left: Steve Witkoff, US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance sit before President Donald Trump holds a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the State Dining Room of the White House, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's Friday Focus. I'm your host deputy editor, Amanda Borscheldan, |
| 0:08.4 | here with a diplomatic correspondent, Laser Barman, in our Jerusalem office. Laser, thank you so |
| 0:13.8 | much for joining me today. Thank you, Amanda. Good to be here. It is so good to be back. I was gone for |
| 0:18.6 | about a week, and I really missed our chat. So thanks for spending some time with me today when it is, can I say it's your birthday? |
| 0:27.6 | It was my birthday this week. Yep. Indeed it is. So thank you so much for those wishes. |
| 0:32.7 | So Mazzal Tov to Laser. So this week, Israel has had a revolving roster of high-level officials visiting the |
| 0:41.2 | country and starting with U.S. President Donald Trump's arrival on Monday of last week, actually. |
| 0:48.0 | So we saw this week the arrival of Trump's senior Mideast advisors Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner, also Vice President |
| 0:56.8 | J.D. Vance, and his lovely wife, Usha, and also U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. |
| 1:04.8 | But while the traffic was really snarled across the country, a controversial member of Knesset named Avi Maoz |
| 1:14.2 | brought an equally controversial bill that the Knesset passed in a preliminary reading on Wednesday. |
| 1:21.7 | So we're going to talk about this bill a little later in the program, but it essentially would apply |
| 1:26.2 | Israeli sovereignty to all of the |
| 1:28.5 | West Bank settlements. There was another bill that was more limited that would annex a major |
| 1:34.3 | city settlement called Malayadomim. This is extremely interesting timing, especially as there |
| 1:43.1 | are murmurs, that Israel is indeed a client or vassal state of |
| 1:48.4 | the United States. One may think that the timing was not coincidental. So we're going to |
| 1:55.7 | talk about all of this and more when we're back. |
| 2:10.6 | This episode is brought to you by the Jewish communal fund, helping individuals and families make the most of their charitable giving. |
| 2:14.0 | With new tax laws taking effect in 2026, 2025 is the optimal time to open or contribute to a donor-advised fund. |
| 2:23.3 | Open a JCF fund with as little as $5,000. |
| 2:26.8 | Choose how your funds are invested and make grants to any IRS-qualified charity on your own timeline. |
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