Urban war expert John Spencer brings pro-Israel message to Pittsburgh
Advocating for IsraelWar expert explains why Israel is prosecuting a just war

Urban war expert John Spencer brings pro-Israel message to Pittsburgh

“Israel does everything reasonable and feasible or ever imagined to protect civilians in warfare in Gaza,” he said.

Urban war expert John Spencer (pictured with Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu) was in Pittsburgh to meet with Jewish community leaders and local officials. (Photo provided by John Spencer)
Urban war expert John Spencer (pictured with Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu) was in Pittsburgh to meet with Jewish community leaders and local officials. (Photo provided by John Spencer)

Despite what you may have read, Israel is conducting its war against Hamas in the most humane way possible, according to urban war expert John Spencer.

“Israel does everything reasonable and feasible or ever imagined to protect civilians in warfare in Gaza,” he said.

Spencer knows from what he speaks. He spent 25 years serving active duty in the military, with two combat deployments in Iraq, and another decade studying urban warfare from the Pentagon to West Point, where he currently works as the chair of urban warfare studies. He has penned two books, “Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership and Social Connections in Modern War” and “Understanding Urban Warfare.” He’s been on the ground in Gaza four times since Oct. 7, 2023, and even been quoted by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Spencer’s assessments, he said, arise from his experience as well as his conversations with brigade, regiment and division leaders on the ground.

“They are doing everything they can to try and limit civilian harm,” he said, “while the other side is doing everything they can to get civilians killed.”

No one, Spencer said, has presented any evidence that Israel is targeting civilians.

An advocate for the way Israel has prosecuted its war against the terrorist group Hamas, Spencer has appeared on all of the major cable news networks including CNN, MSNBC, FOX News and the BBC, discussing Ukraine’s war with Russia and Israel’s defensive war against Hamas. He’s also made the rounds speaking at various events, working to reframe some of the fallacies reported in the news.

Take, for instance, Israel’s use of 2,000-pound bombs, often reported with images of destroyed buildings.

“It’s not true that Israel is using that tool specifically to cause an inordinate amount of destruction,” Spencer said. “Israel is using that weapon because it’s a standard weapon for penetrating urban structures to get underground.”

Hamas, he said has 400 miles of tunnels, many 200 feet underground. The 2,000-pound bomb, he said, is one of the only ways to reach those targets.

A false narrative has been popularized in media sources like The New York Times, he noted, claiming that the United States rarely uses these munitions, “which is not true at all.”

Spencer also has pushed back against the idea that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, pointing out that Hamas started the war and creates situations where civilians will be harmed.

People believe Israel is purposely targeting civilians and not following the laws of war based solely on the number of people reported to have been killed in the war, he said.

“People say look at the number of civilians that have died, look at the destruction. They don’t question where those numbers come from or that’s not the way war works,” he said. “What I’m saying as a war researcher, in this context, is that there are very few other ways because of Hamas, and the condemnation of the number of civilian deaths comes from the terrorist organization. It isn’t overriding evidence that Israel or any other nation did anything illegal.”

Spencer spent 48 hours in Pittsburgh last month talking with Jewish community groups and local officials, whom he said were open to hearing about his research.

Julie Paris, Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUs, attended many of Spencer’s events. Even though her organization didn’t bring in the urban war expert, she was anxious to hear his comments.

Spencer, she noted, has been consistent in his defense of Israel, at a time when it isn’t always politically advantageous to do so. Instead, she said, he’s done so because he believes he has a moral obligation.

Paris said it was “an honor and privilege” to have someone of Spencer’s caliber in Pittsburgh articulating “Israel’s existential defense of war against an enemy that isn’t bound by any rules of war and actually violates every rule of war that exists and specifically uses their own population as human shields.”

Spencer’s expertise is particularly relevant, she said, as Israel fights an urban war unprecedented in history and when the Pittsburgh Jewish community is faced with outside groups attempting to divest from Israel and stop the city from doing business with the Jewish state.

“Having someone like John Spencer here in Pittsburgh was meaningful as we work to defend Israel and the misinformation being spread in our streets,” Paris said. I think he came at a real opportune time and his perspective was appreciated by those that were able to attend his sessions.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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