ACADEMIA

John Spencer

Author

The leading authority in the United States in urban warfare who spent 25 years as an infantry soldier in the US Army, rising to the rank of Major, John Spencer has been one of the most vocal and articulate defenders of Israel's military operations in Gaza over the last year. In challenging defamatory claims that Israel is guilty of war crimes and "genocide," Spencer has countered that the Jewish state has set a "remarkable, historic new standard" in conducting an urban warfare campaign that seeks to minimize civilian casualties. "I've never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy's civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings," Spencer argued in an op-ed for Newsweek. "In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history — above and beyond what international law requires and more than the US did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."