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.

There is a religious community in Israel dedicated to spreading peace throughout the country and beyond. Days after October 7, this community opened its doors for hundreds of Israelis from diverse backgrounds, stressing the importance of maintaining peaceful dialogue between ethnic and religious groups.

That community is Muslim.

The Ahmadiyya number only around 2,000 in Israel, but are part of a global community of some 20 million.

In today's Lazar Focus, Imam Imad Al Masri, a Jordanian cleric living in Haifa, explains the origins of his sect and makes an impassioned case for the Ahmadiyya vision for spreading peace around the world.

As he marks the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he discusses the community's outreach in Palestinian areas, including in the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule and during the recent war there. Al Masri recounts the reaction of the Ahmadiyya community to the October 7, 2023, attacks and how they dealt with initial suspicions from their Jewish neighbors.

As Israel maintains a shaky ceasefire in Gaza and prepares for a possible war with Iran, the Ahmadiyya present an unwavering call for peace that many find refreshing and uplifting.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Gabriella Jacobs and video edited by Ari Schlacht.

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Israel has never been stronger. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has steadily rolled back its enemies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. A staunch friend of Israel is in the White House, and he might well launch a second wave of strikes on Israel's archenemy in Tehran.

Or is Israel historically vulnerable? None of the adversaries it has taken on since the Hamas invasion are defeated. US President Donald Trump is an ally, but both the Democratic and Republican parties have influential and growing wings that are hostile to Israel, if not antisemitic.

To make sense of this moment, one needs a grasp of military strategy, Middle East geopolitics, and the workings of the US-Israel relationship.

Michael Oren, Israel's former envoy in Jerusalem and a leading Middle East historian, says that the post-October 7 wars represent "one of the greatest military victories in modern history, perhaps in all history." However, it remains to be seen whether Israel can translate the military victories into permanent strategic and diplomatic gains.

On the potential for a US strike in Iran, Oren stresses the importance of missile defense for the US Navy, as Iran's greatest achievement would be the sinking of an American aircraft carrier. He predicts that after Trump issued clear threats and put his reputation on the line, he is not going to back down and leave a legacy that could be compared to that of Barack Obama.

Looking at the future of the US-Israeli relationship, Oren notes that the US is going through domestic processes that Israel has no control over, but often use Israel to score political points. Given those trends, Israel should diversify its diplomatic relationships, but there will never be a replacement for American support.

Oren firmly supports Israel moving off of US military aid, and transforming its relationship with Washington into one of equal partners working together to develop capabilities.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Gabriella Jacobs and video edited by Ari Schlacht.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Only 16 days before the October 7, 2023, attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the podium at the United Nations. As a Saudi diplomat listened intently, he said, "We are on the cusp of an even more dramatic breakthrough, a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia.”

The war that erupted with the Hamas invasion has, not surprisingly, pushed off normalization, but it was still seen as likely once the hostages came back and Hamas was beaten.

That prognosis has been replaced by alarm in recent months. The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the UAE -- a close Israeli ally -- spilled out into the open in Yemen, and continues to simmer in Sudan and Libya.

Meanwhile, Riyadh's relations with Ankara and Doha continue to improve. In parallel, Saudi media and clerics launched a bitter war of words on the UAE, Israel, and even Jews.

Berman drills down into the economic, strategic, and military roots of the UAE-Saudi regional rivalry, and whether the idea of blocs in the Middle East is even accurate.

He then gives his assessment of whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is really realigning the kingdom's foreign policy, and what it means for a peace deal with Israel.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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.

On January 17, a statement from heads of Jerusalem churches touched off a firestorm. It blasted Christian Zionism, leading to an online fight over religious authority, divine promises, and ecclesial divisions.

Christian Zionists, including US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. fought back, releasing robust defenses of their theology and love for Israel and the Jewish people.

ICEJ Senior Vice President David Parsons, who has lived in Israel for over two decades, explains why Christian Zionists back Israel, and what it has to do with the nature of God's promises. He addresses the charge that Christian Zionists are secretly trying to get Jews back to Israel to spark the Armageddon, and answers questions about whether they take sides in partisan issues in Israel.

Parsons reveals surprising details on the effectiveness of ICEJ as a diplomatic tool for Israel, and why continued US support for Israel depends on the tens of millions of Christian Zionists.

Moving to a lighter topic, Parsons discusses the ICEJ's keystone event, the annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem, in which thousands of Christians from dozens of countries come to march in the capital -- even at the height of the war against Hamas.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Since October 7, 2023, there has been a focused and intense campaign to paint Zionism as a supremacist, racist, and inherently violent movement that has no place in academia, popular culture, or public life in the West.

Jews and supporters of Israel usually label such attacks as antisemitism, since they often take old tropes about Jews and apply them to Israel.

Anthropologist Adam Louis-Klein, who emerged from the Colombian jungle on October 9 and found himself under attack from colleagues for his support of Israel, is leading the effort to cast anti-Zionism as a hate movement that seeks to deny Jews a place in the public square on their own terms by portraying Zionism as the root of much of the world's evil and violence.

Louis-Klein applies his critical lens to anti-Zionism, examining its roots in Nazism, Islamist ideology, and Soviet propaganda. He unpacks terms like "settler-colonialism," "genocide," and " apartheid," and explains why the anti-Zionists chose those loaded words in their attack on the Jewish state.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: Adam Louis-Klein (courtesy) / Demonstrators gather on the UCLA campus, June 12, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar 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.

Starting December 28, Iran's cities and towns filled with protesters, but its political elite continues to show cohesion and confidence. Additionally, there have been no signs that security personnel are defecting or refusing orders.

This week, Berman -- looking back at previous protests and how they were squelched -- projects forward to how the current unrest may play out for the Islamic Republic's oppressive regime. 

We speak about the unpopularity of the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the sense that Iran's youth taking to the streets increasing feel they have nothing to lose. 

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Lazar Berman (courtesy) / Demonstrators burn a poster depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of anti-government protests in Iran, in Holon, Israel, January 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, catch diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

This week, while Berman was in Florida to cover the summit between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan invited senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur to sit in the hot seat and prepare five scenarios for Israel for 2026.

Rettig Gur came prepared -- plus one -- and the two spend the first half discussing the three main fronts of the war, Lebanon, Gaza and Iran.

In the second half, we learn about more domestic/political issues, including Rettig Gur's projection that Israel will begin to wean itself from US aid as the political winds shift in the States.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: A man walks down to the Western Wall as the Dome of the Rock at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound appears in the background in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 4, 2025. (JOHN WESSELS / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, catch diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

This week, we’re joined by Eran Ortal, a brigadier-general (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a leading military theorist. Ortal commanded The Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies, and wrote "The Battle Before the War: The Inside Story of the IDF's Transformation," which came in second place for the Institute for National Security Studies's 2025 Tshetshik Prize.

Months before the October 7 invasion of southern Israel by Hamas, Ortal warned in an interview with The Times of Israel that the country's "military situation is eroding, not improving," and that “time is not on our side."

Ortal explains what glaring problems he saw in the military in which he served for decades. He says that the IDF concept in its initial decades enabled it to win its famous victories over far more numerous foes.

He then lays out why the IDF's center of gravity moved from the armored corps to the Air Force and intelligence services.

Over time, says Ortal, Israel also moved away from its focus on decisive victory, and pursued a series of indecisive deterrence operations against non-state enemies like Hamas and Hezbollah.

While there were efforts underway in the IDF to implement a wide-ranging series of reforms in the years before October 7, the Hamas attack took place before they had the desired effect. Israel, he says, went to war with an army that had not been properly trained and resourced, which affected the course of the war in Gaza.

Looking forward, the IDF must go through another transformation, Ortal argues.  Those who argue for continuing to prioritize airpower are mistaken, as are those who call for a return to a focus on mass ground maneuver.

Instead, there must not only be investment in AI, drones, and a network that brings them to the troops on the battlefield; Israel also needs a new strategy that employs cutting-edge technology to achieve decisive victory over its enemies.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: Israeli soldiers are seen during an army raid in the West Bank town of Tubas, November 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, catch diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

This week, we’re joined by Danielle Pletka, distinguished senior fellow in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses on US foreign policy, the Middle East, and terrorism.

Pletka, speaking to Beman from her native Australia, blasts the Albanese government for its failure to confront antisemitism and for its entirely insufficient response to the deadly shooting at a Hanukkah party in Sydney on Sunday.

Turning to US policy around the Gaza war, Pletka argues that then-US president Joe Biden was indeed a friend of Israel, but was already losing control over the White House to figures such as former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan when Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 and taking 251 hostage to Gaza, on October 7, 2023.

She critiques elements of US President Donald Trump's foreign policy, including the lack of Middle East experts and the influence of countries such as Qatar over decision-making. Still, Pletka gives high marks to the Abraham Accords and Trump's aggressive policy against Iran. 

Pletka predicts, however, that the nascent International Security Force for Gaza will collapse on its own, allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that he was willing to go along with Trump's plan before resuming his own tactics.

In the wake of a social media bust-up this week, Pletka says that US Vice President JD Vance is not anti-Israel, but is instead willing to take whatever positions will help him advance politically -- even if it means befriending Tucker Carlson, who had a softball interview with Nick Fuentes after the antisemitic media personality used racist slurs against Vance's wife.

Despite some warning signs, Pletka says that the evidence indicates that most Republicans -- and the "soul of the party" -- still support Israel and the continued alliance between Washington and Jerusalem.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Danielle Pletka (courtesy) / President Donald Trump and Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi hold signed documents during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, October 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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