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.

Much of the Christian world is currently observing the period of Lent, which leads up to Easter, a very busy time in Jerusalem's Old City.

However, along with the celebrations, Israeli Christians and foreign pilgrims often experience harassment and even sometimes attacks.

This week, a second annual report from the Israel-based Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue documented 111 attacks against Christians, including 46 physical attacks, 35 attacks against church properties, and 13 cases of harassment.

Last year’s inaugural report documented 89 cases, including 32 attacks on church properties, 30 formally reported cases of spitting, and seven violent attacks, most of them against multiple victims. 

According to the report, most perpetrators appear to belong to the ultra-Orthodox and national-religious communities. The majority of the victims are clergy or people wearing visible Christian symbols. 

On this week's Friday Focus, Berman puts on his Christian Affairs reporter hat and discusses this phenomenon, including why official Israel is increasingly paying attention to it.

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Orthodox Christians walk in the Good Friday procession in the Old City of Jerusalem, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

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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.

Last week, Berman reported that Israel is aiming to establish full diplomatic relations with Lebanon in talks that could open as early as next month. After the military-to-military meeting in the United Nations peacekeeping headquarters in Naqoura, Israel and Lebanon agreed to open negotiations to delineate the border between the two countries, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

For today's Friday Focus, we go back in time to understand how Lebanon and Israel were formed in order to discuss the evolving relations between the two countries today.

We hear about the push-pull between the British and the French, who each shepherded their fledgling nations and indelibly marked the map of the Middle East.

Finally, we speed up to modern day and learn about how the recent maritime border agreements have worked out for the two nations -- and whether they could be some kind of blueprint for a permanent land border.

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: UNIFIL peacekeeping troops patrol the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / 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.

Today, as the Jewish world celebrates the holiday of Purim, we delve into the State of Israel's turbulent history with modern Iran.

We begin with a quick recap of the story of Purim, which takes place in Ancient Persia in the 4th century BCE. Jerusalem's First Temple had been destroyed over 50 years earlier, and the dispersed Jews were subjects of the Persian empire, which extended over some 127 nations.

The Book of Esther, an extra-biblical book, relates that evil Haman, an advisor to King Ahasuerus, convinced the king to agree to the execution of Jews of his empire. His plot is thwarted by the secret Jew Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai.

Fast forward to 1948 and the relations between the Iranian and Jewish peoples are cordial and flourishing. We hear about cooperative efforts and even a massive oil pipe line that still exists in Israel, which was initially constructed to bring Iranian oil to Europe.

We hear how since the rise of the current regime in 1979, relations between the two countries have progressively soured, leading to nihilistic rhetoric by the early 2000s.

Berman weighs in on the crossroads that Israel faces regarding Iran: Will the US succeed in negotiating a nuclear deal? Or will Israel need to take to the skies -- presumably with its closest ally -- to bring the nuclear program to a halt?

And finally, to cap off the program, we learn about a special Purim in Jerusalem this year, which is celebrated from Friday through sundown on Sunday.

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 12, 2025, during a meeting with Iranian students in Tehran. (IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER'S WEBSITE / 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.

The "Peace Agreement between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel" was signed on March 26, 1979, following three wars and decades of bloodshed.

In today's Friday Focus, we delve into the history of bad blood between the two ancient nations and how a handful of pragmatic leaders curtailed further violence.

We also learn about Egypt's role as a mediator between Israel and the armed Palestinian terrorist groups that have ruled Gaza for the past two decades.

Likewise, even as reports accumulate that Egypt is building up its military forces on the border with Israel, Berman weighs in on whether, if pressed, the Jewish state could still handily defeat the Muslim giant next door.

And finally, we hear whether the peace with Egypt -- as cold as it is -- could be a blueprint for similar future truces with the nations on Israel's north.

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, left, US president Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the north lawn of the White House after signing the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979. (AP Photo/ Bob Daugherty)

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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.

The official end of phase one of the current hostage release-ceasefire deal is set for March 1. We currently don't know if phase two will be implemented or whether, potentially, a lengthened phase one may be negotiated.

Since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas's October 7, 2023, murderous onslaught on southern Israel, a range of efforts have been made to free the over 250 hostages in terrorists' hands.

As we hear in today's in-depth conversation, the most effective way to get out as many hostages as possible has been through a pair of negotiated hostage release-ceasefire deals.

Among the questions asked and answered are: Who are the major players behind these negotiations? What have been the obstacles? Is paying ransom a Jewish value?

Finally, we hear which of Israel's allies does not traditionally negotiate with terrorists.

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: A former Palestinian prisoner, released as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner exchange, is carried on a person's shoulders upon arrival in Ramallah on February 27, 2025. (Zain Jaafar/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.

Ahead of the three-year mark of the ongoing Ukraine war, Berman assesses how the potential winding down of the conflict is stirring up all sorts of other battles on the international stage.

We discuss the origins of the current Russo-Ukraine war and the competing narratives surrounding it, even as Israel attempts to trod on semi-neutral ground.

Finally, we hear how US President Donald Trump views the conflict that is occurring far from his borders, and his country's "obligation" to fund it.

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, September 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, Berman assesses how the current Trump administration's foreign policy seems to be shaping up. From the US president's bombshell February 4, 2025, proposal to transfer Gaza's population from the Strip to reset the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to efforts to end the Ukraine War, Trump's gaze appears to be as global as it is domestic.

So how does that square with his promise to "Make America Great Again"?

Berman zooms out and in 30 minutes illustrates how the president appears to be adopting a new motto: "Speak brashly and carry a big stick."

This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump takes questions during a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 13, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.