Lazar Focus

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.

Just back from reserve duty, Berman has written an in-depth look at the war in Gaza and the questions it raises in Israeli society.

For today's episode, we take a look at Berman's op-ed, "For now, victory is still within reach: 10 truths about the Gaza war, 20 months in," and discuss each point one by one.

In a free-flowing conversation, we hear Berman assess the war's successes and failures and learn about the burning existential issues that Israelis have yet to address.

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 troops of the Nahal Brigade operate in the Gaza Strip, in images released on June 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

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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. In this episode, American Jewish Committee head Ted Deutch fills in for Berman, who is on reserve duty.

On May 21, Sarah Milgrim and her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky, were shot to death outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, where the victims had just attended an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee that focused in part on humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Both Milgrim and Lischinsky were employees of the Israeli embassy in Washington. Their alleged killer — a far-left activist from Chicago — shouted “Free Palestine” as he was arrested.

This week, the head of the AJC talks more about what type of coexistence event was held prior to the murders.

We discuss the rise in antisemitic violence across the Diaspora and what, in Deutsch’s opinion, can be done to counter it.

The former Florida congressman emphasizes the need for leaders around the world to condemn the surge in antisemitism and use nuanced language when speaking about the war in Gaza.

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: A mourner lights a candle during a vigil for the victims of the Capital Jewish Museum shooting outside of the White House on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. Two Israeli Embassy staff members, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were gunned down after an event at the museum by a man shouting slogans in support for Palestine. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP)

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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, political correspondent Sam Sokol steps in for Berman.

This week, we learned that only 1,212, or five percent, of the 24,000 ultra-Orthodox men who have received initial draft notices since July 2024 have begun the enlistment process. Some 70,000-80,000 Haredi men are eligible to serve.

We also learned that despite constituting 14 percent of the working-age population, the ultra-Orthodox community generated only 4% of Israeli tax revenues in 2023, costing the government billions and adding thousands of shekels to the average non-Haredi worker’s annual tax burden, according to a new study by the Israel Democracy Institute.

Sokol has been rigorously covering the issue of universal conscription, also known as the Haredi or ultra-Orthodox draft, both in the halls of the Knesset and on the streets of Israel.

In this episode, we learn more about the diverse Haredi society and what motivates it. We talk about the history behind the exemptions, as well as the history of Haredim joining the coalition.

And finally, Sokol updates us on the slow legislative process to codify Haredi enlistment -- which may just topple the coalition.

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: Yeshiva students listen to a Torah lesson at the Hebron Yeshiva in Jerusalem on August 16, 2018. (Aharon Krohn/Flash90)

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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, political correspondent Tal Schneider steps in for Berman.

Unforgettable images of the Caracal's female tank unit crushing Hamas terrorists infiltrating southern Israel on October 7, 2023, brought home the realization that not only are women serving in the IDF, they're as eager -- and able -- to fight as their brothers in arms.

Scheider describes a recent Knesset committee that discussed the phenomenon of the IDF's growing number of women warriors, which now make up almost 21 percent of all fighting forces.

We review the history of battles to have female fighters in the IDF -- including several benchmark Supreme Court cases which paved the way for the next generation.

Schneider, who has spent the past several months researching the contribution these women warriors made on October 7, talks about where the army stands today -- and what is on the horizon for other fighting units being opened up to women.

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: Mix-gender Caracal battalion troops at the end of their basic training. (IDF)

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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.

Tens of thousands of IDF reservists are again being called up — Berman among them — and Israel appears to be standing at a crossroads in the Gaza War.

In the first half of our program, we discuss Israel's strategy of conducting conflicts through a fighting force that is largely made up of reserve forces. Berman charts earlier wars and discusses the major takeaways from them.

We then turn to the present war and discuss its rollout, pauses, surprises (beepers, anyone?) and successes.

Berman discusses why it is imperative to end this war quickly -- for both Israelis and Palestinians.

At this liminal moment, we take a look at the past, present and future of the operations in the Gaza Strip.

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: Undated image of IDF forces in the Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)

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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 look at Israel's long history of hostage release negotiations and how the price per captive has become increasingly inflated over the decades.

To begin our discussion, Berman gives a brief survey of some traditional Jewish sources dealing with the subject, including the Bible, Mishna and the Rambam's writings.

We then turn to 1950s Israel and hear a survey of hostage and POW situations -- and how many prisoners Israel released to free its citizens.

Finally, we discuss the deal which released Gilad Shalit -- and saw 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners again walk free, including Hamas October 7 mastermind, Yihye Sinwar.

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

IMAGE: Illustrative image of now-dead Hamas head Yachye Sinwar at a rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), in Gaza City, April 15, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)

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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.

Over the Passover holiday, some 6,315 Jews visited the Temple Mount, a 37% rise over last year. Among them, Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot, where he participated in a prayer service and prostrated himself on the ground in worship — activities that are nominally prohibited for Jews at the flashpoint holy site.

Sukkot hailed the “tremendous change” since he was arrested for the same act 14 years ago.

Meanwhile, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Police, which enforces law and security on the Mount, boasted that a shift in the unwritten status quo that governs the site was a result of his policies. He was up on the mount earlier in the month.

In a statement, Ben Gvir said, “I’m happy to see that MK Zvi Sukkot, like many thousands, is prostrating himself and praying at the Temple Mount.. What wasn’t done for 30 years is being done on my watch, and I’m glad to have the honor, by the grace of God, to lead this huge change.”

So this week, Berman delves into whether this is such a "huge change" and how we arrived at the current precarious balance.

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: Jewish visitors walk protected by Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount complex to Jews, in Jerusalem on April 9, 2023, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, also coinciding with the Jewish Passover holiday. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

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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. In today's episode, environment reporter Sue Surkes makes a guest appearance, stepping in for Berman.

This is a week of spring holidays, and so we are dedicating the program to some of the biblical flora of the Land of Israel.

In honor of Easter, which is celebrated by much of Christendom on Sunday, we begin with a date palm that was brought back from the dead and a plant that resurrects itself.

In 2008, Dr. Elaine Solowey germinated a 1,900-year-old date palm seed that took the name Methuselah after the long-lived biblical character. She has since gone on to revive several more ancient seeds, including females that bear fruit. Surkes tells the story of Solowey's amazing success -- and describes how the dates taste.

Next, we hear about the Rose of Jericho, which was named for the biblical city of Jericho that constantly rose from its ashes -- and still stands today. It's an extraordinary story of a plant surviving in the harshest of circumstances.

We then turn to a tree that is called the Christ-thorn jujube (shezaf). Traditionally, this type of tree was used to create the thorny crown that Jesus wore on his last journey down the Via Dolorosa.

Surkes then speaks about the olive tree -- both the last few remaining "wild" variety located near Atlit, and the cultivated variety. She turns to Psalm 128 to show how being acquainted with the flora of the Land of Israel gives a deeper meaning to the text.

And finally, we speculate on the Garden of Eden's "forbidden fruit." Was it an apple? Or maybe a fig?

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: Dates harvested from 'Hannah,' the first female palm tree germinated from 2,000 year-old seeds discovered in the Judean desert, are displayed in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel, on September 27, 2021. (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

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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. In today's episode, military reporter Emanuel Fabian makes a guest appearance, stepping in for Berman.

We take a deep look into the IDF probes into the failures leading up to and on October 7 by first taking a step back and discussing the goals of the investigations and their overall general findings.

We then dive into a cluster of probes that were released in the past week, including the investigations into Kibbutz Nirim, the city of Sderot, Kibbutz Re'im and the Supernova open-air music festival.

At the Nova festival alone, some 380 out of 3,500 people attending the party were slaughtered by Hamas and another 44 were taken hostage to Gaza. On this second Passover since the onslaught, 17 of those taken from the Nova party are still in captivity, including 11 living and six declared dead.

In a very tough, at times graphic conversation, Fabian guides us through a handful of the dozens of battles on October 7, 2023.

For further reading:

Troops fended off 1st wave of terrorists at Nirim, but IDF left kibbutz vulnerable

1,000 troops were in Sderot on Oct. 7, when they were urgently needed elsewhere, probe finds

IDF okayed Nova music festival, but didn’t inform troops deployed at border, probe finds

Civil defense squad, cops battled 100 terrorists in Re’im before IDF arrived, probe finds

From our archives:

Camera in hand, partygoer captures escape from rave where Hamas killed 260 Israelis

Thousands flee rocket and gunfire at all-night desert ‘Nature Party’; dozens missing

Daily Briefing Mar. 4: Day 515 – Devastating IDF Oct. 7 probes depict years of misconceptions

The 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: Israeli soldiers drive by the Supernova rave party site, where almost 380 were killed, near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza Strip border fence, on October 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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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.

Berman is currently in Budapest covering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meetings with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Just before Berman packed his bags to fly on Israel's Wing of Zion plane, we discuss what Netanyahu is hoping to accomplish there, Israel’s relationship with Hungary in general, and Netanyahu's "bromances" with some of the leaders of what could be called “anti-liberal” democracies.

Berman starts by describing a typical trip alongside the prime minister and how a lot of his work gets done while waiting around.

We discuss the tricky diplomatic situation Israel finds itself in through its alliances with its eastern European friends, even as many countries in Europe are increasingly turning to the far right. While this podcast was recorded ahead of Hungary's announcement it was leaving the International Criminal Court -- which has a warrant out for Netanyahu's arrest -- the signs were plain that Budapest has the Israeli prime minister's back.

And finally, Borschel-Dan asks a burning question: Just how many packets of hot paprika is Berman bringing back for her?

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and the video was edited by Thomas Girsch. 

IMAGE: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shake hands after a press statement at the Carmelite Monastery in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

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