William Daroff: What Trump needs to do for that Nobel Prize
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.
American Jews have plenty to fret about. Facing rising antisemitism even before October 7, 2023, the community has had to deal with a massive spike in threats, defamation, and outright violence since the Hamas attack.
While Israel was fighting to defeat Hamas and get the hostages home, US Jews were contending with anti-Zionist attacks from both the left and the right.
William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has been a central player in the US Jewish communities' responses to October 7 and the subsequent two years of war.
He lays out his explanation for the spike in antisemitism in the US, and argues that with domestic focus on ICE, Israel has an opening to restart reconnecting with Democrats and young Americans.
He recounts his conversations with the Biden Administration at the start of the war, and explains why the relationship with Netanyahu became so strained.
Turning to the White House, Daroff offers insights into Trump's relationships with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar. He argues that one should take Trump's threats seriously, both against Hamas if they don't disarm and Iran if they don't concede to US demands.
Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Laser Focus. |
| 0:05.0 | I am your host, Laser Berman. |
| 0:06.8 | Now, this is an exciting episode for a couple of reasons. |
| 0:10.0 | First of all, my New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. |
| 0:13.7 | So if you see me on Monday morning, I'll either be in an excellent mood or in a terrible |
| 0:18.2 | mood, but time will tell. |
| 0:20.1 | We will be cheering for the Patriots. |
| 0:21.7 | Number two, we are here in our new Jerusalem studio. You might see that things look a little |
| 0:26.6 | bit different. Things look a little bit sharper. So this is exciting. And what better way to |
| 0:32.2 | start laser focus in our new studio than to talk about some of the most pressing issues that are |
| 0:38.7 | affecting American Jews, Israeli Jews, and some Jews around the world. We're going to be talking |
| 0:43.7 | about anti-Semitism, both from the left and from the right. We're going to talk about |
| 0:48.2 | policies from the Biden administration, from the Trump administration. We're going to talk about |
| 0:53.4 | Iran. We're going to talk about Iran. We're going to talk |
| 0:55.7 | about the war in Gaza, Turkey, Saudi Arabia. And who better to speak about these topics with |
| 1:01.7 | than someone who is one of the leading Jewish voices in the U.S., perhaps in the world, William Daroff. |
| 1:07.9 | William, thank you for being here. My honor. Thank you. So most of you know William, |
| 1:11.5 | but I'll just give a few lines just to introduce him and remind you of who we will be speaking to |
| 1:16.5 | about these issues. William is the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. |
| 1:22.9 | In that capacity, he regularly speaks with top policymakers, both in the White House, presidents, and also |
| 1:29.9 | here in Israel, including Prime Minister Netanyahu. He is an adjunct professor at George |
| 1:34.7 | Washington University, and he is a life member on the Council of Foreign Relations. And Amanda is |
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