Amidst the pain of war, the Israel Defense Forces conducted a brilliant, beautiful raid. The IDF rescued four Israeli Jewish hostages alive. The al Nuseirat raid in Central Gaza was conducted with the precision of the raid on Entebbe that launched a young Benjamin Netanyahu to political stardom. Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Shlomi Ziv and Andrey Kozlov are now safe and sound to spend Shavuos with their loving families thanks to the IDF’s skilled determination.
Yet even the sunniest of moments brings out those seeking to find rain and darkness, much of it imagined. The al-Nuseirat raid offered valuable lessons that will be ignored while bringing new anti-raid rationales that deserve to never be learned.
For starters, the raid’s success had zero percent to do with diplomacy. Those worshipping at diplomacy’s altar may not always be completely useless, but they were in this instance. Exactly zero percent credit for this raid belongs to diplomats sipping tea with dictators. This raid was hard military power at its most efficient and effective.
Those worshipping at diplomacy’s altar may not always be completely useless, but they were in this instance. Exactly zero percent credit for this raid belongs to diplomats sipping tea with dictators. This raid was hard military power at its most efficient and effective.
One leftist reporter from the anti-Israel British Broadcasting Company asked why the Central Gaza Arabs were not given advance warning of the raid. IDF International Spokesman Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus had to explain to Helena Humphrey what a raid actually is. Conricus added that “in the upside-down universe of activist journalism, this question makes total sense.”
Another lesson never learned comes from those offering useless and often fictional Arab death statistics and those blindly believing those fake and meaningless numbers.
The numbers are fake because Hamas, who behead, rape and torture people, falls short in other ethical ways. They are lying weasels who lie because other anti-Israel lying weasels eagerly and reflexively believe anti-Israel lies. Grossly inflated death statistics since the start of the war have already been debunked as impossible by Wharton statistician Abraham Wyner.
More importantly, even if the false Hamas casualty numbers were to be true, they would still be irrelevant. Nothing in the history of war ever mandated proportionate war deaths. The very argument is nonsensical. Proportionality means perpetual stalemate and endless war. Decisive disproportionate force and deaths cause victories and defeats, which end wars.
Additionally, nothing in the history of war prohibits collateral damage in severity or amount. Collateral damage has always been unfortunate and completely legal.
Anti-Jewish zealots and other apologists are screaming that 274 dead “Palestinians” is too high a price to pay for only four Jewish hostages. Vice President Kamala Harris lamented the Gaza Arab deaths, ignoring that some of them were hostage takers. Israel is defensively insisting that the number of dead Gaza Arabs is under 100, as if that matters.
The argument itself is dubious. Collateral damage by definition is accidental, and the number of genuinely unfortunate allowable accidents can’t be fixed. The precedent for this came when President Harry Truman dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hirohito quickly surrendered to end World War II, saving millions more lives. Military power, not diplomacy, saved the world.
Finally, the raid’s success strengthened Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition. Benny Gantz quit the unity government, which should cause pro-Israel people everywhere to shrug. Gantz claimed that he quit because Netanyahu refused to implement the Biden-Blinken ceasefire plan. If this is true, Israel is better off. Netanyahu wisely rejected an Israeli surrender plan and insisted that a total military victory was still the objective. His right-wing government partners cheered the return of hard military power after a brief flirtation with diplomatically assisted national suicide.
Before the raid, it looked like the Biden administration would help Hamas wait out Netanyahu until he was ousted in favor of a more pliant Israeli government. After the raid, the tables have turned. Netanyahu hopes to wait out the Biden administration in the realistic hope that it is replaced with a more Israel-friendly Trump administration.
The al-Nuseirat raid will not make State Department diplomats or anti-Israel college professors more useful. Yet this spectacularly successful raid has changed the game back in favor of Israel militarily, politically, morally, and from a morale standpoint. It was a good day at the office for the IDF and everyone who bleeds blue and white. These colors don’t run. They fight and win.
Eric Golub is a retired stockbrokerage and oil professional living in Los Angeles.
Lessons Learned and Not Learned From the al-Nuseirat Raid
Eric Golub
Amidst the pain of war, the Israel Defense Forces conducted a brilliant, beautiful raid. The IDF rescued four Israeli Jewish hostages alive. The al Nuseirat raid in Central Gaza was conducted with the precision of the raid on Entebbe that launched a young Benjamin Netanyahu to political stardom. Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Shlomi Ziv and Andrey Kozlov are now safe and sound to spend Shavuos with their loving families thanks to the IDF’s skilled determination.
Yet even the sunniest of moments brings out those seeking to find rain and darkness, much of it imagined. The al-Nuseirat raid offered valuable lessons that will be ignored while bringing new anti-raid rationales that deserve to never be learned.
For starters, the raid’s success had zero percent to do with diplomacy. Those worshipping at diplomacy’s altar may not always be completely useless, but they were in this instance. Exactly zero percent credit for this raid belongs to diplomats sipping tea with dictators. This raid was hard military power at its most efficient and effective.
One leftist reporter from the anti-Israel British Broadcasting Company asked why the Central Gaza Arabs were not given advance warning of the raid. IDF International Spokesman Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus had to explain to Helena Humphrey what a raid actually is. Conricus added that “in the upside-down universe of activist journalism, this question makes total sense.”
Another lesson never learned comes from those offering useless and often fictional Arab death statistics and those blindly believing those fake and meaningless numbers.
The numbers are fake because Hamas, who behead, rape and torture people, falls short in other ethical ways. They are lying weasels who lie because other anti-Israel lying weasels eagerly and reflexively believe anti-Israel lies. Grossly inflated death statistics since the start of the war have already been debunked as impossible by Wharton statistician Abraham Wyner.
More importantly, even if the false Hamas casualty numbers were to be true, they would still be irrelevant. Nothing in the history of war ever mandated proportionate war deaths. The very argument is nonsensical. Proportionality means perpetual stalemate and endless war. Decisive disproportionate force and deaths cause victories and defeats, which end wars.
Additionally, nothing in the history of war prohibits collateral damage in severity or amount. Collateral damage has always been unfortunate and completely legal.
Anti-Jewish zealots and other apologists are screaming that 274 dead “Palestinians” is too high a price to pay for only four Jewish hostages. Vice President Kamala Harris lamented the Gaza Arab deaths, ignoring that some of them were hostage takers. Israel is defensively insisting that the number of dead Gaza Arabs is under 100, as if that matters.
The argument itself is dubious. Collateral damage by definition is accidental, and the number of genuinely unfortunate allowable accidents can’t be fixed. The precedent for this came when President Harry Truman dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hirohito quickly surrendered to end World War II, saving millions more lives. Military power, not diplomacy, saved the world.
Finally, the raid’s success strengthened Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition. Benny Gantz quit the unity government, which should cause pro-Israel people everywhere to shrug. Gantz claimed that he quit because Netanyahu refused to implement the Biden-Blinken ceasefire plan. If this is true, Israel is better off. Netanyahu wisely rejected an Israeli surrender plan and insisted that a total military victory was still the objective. His right-wing government partners cheered the return of hard military power after a brief flirtation with diplomatically assisted national suicide.
Before the raid, it looked like the Biden administration would help Hamas wait out Netanyahu until he was ousted in favor of a more pliant Israeli government. After the raid, the tables have turned. Netanyahu hopes to wait out the Biden administration in the realistic hope that it is replaced with a more Israel-friendly Trump administration.
The al-Nuseirat raid will not make State Department diplomats or anti-Israel college professors more useful. Yet this spectacularly successful raid has changed the game back in favor of Israel militarily, politically, morally, and from a morale standpoint. It was a good day at the office for the IDF and everyone who bleeds blue and white. These colors don’t run. They fight and win.
Eric Golub is a retired stockbrokerage and oil professional living in Los Angeles.
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
Editor's Picks
Israel and the Internet Wars – A Professional Social Media Review
The Invisible Student: A Tale of Homelessness at UCLA and USC
What Ever Happened to the LA Times?
Who Are the Jews On Joe Biden’s Cabinet?
You’re Not a Bad Jewish Mom If Your Kid Wants Santa Claus to Come to Your House
No Labels: The Group Fighting for the Political Center
Latest Articles
Traveling Alone Is Sometimes the Only Way to Go.
America is Different
The Red Cow Promise – A poem for Parsha Chukat-Balak
A Bisl Torah — Choose the Side Road
Spirituality, Religious Moral Precepts and Artificial Intelligence
A Moment in Time: Life’s A-MAZE-ing Journey
New Film Captures Maj. Gen. Doron Almog’s Meaningful Life and Hope for the Jewish People
A new documentary called “From October 6 to October 7,” which premiered in February at the 37th Israeli Film Festival in Los Angeles, is showing Doron’s life on the big screen.
Doubling Down on Who We Are
There is something in this people, covenanted to justice, to memory, to one another, that is impossible to extinguish.
We Are Upset Because We Can Read
Americans – and Israelis in particular – are not reacting to spin, or to partisan framing, or to media distortions. They are reacting to the text of the agreement itself, and to what has followed it.
Print Issue: A Time-Out for Gratitude | June 26, 2026
America’s 250th birthday arrives at a time when things have been especially lousy for Jews. But gratitude is a great Jewish value, so we’ve created a very special birthday present: an e-book with 250 reasons to be grateful for America.
Bye-Bye Bluebird: A Greek Summer with an Israeli Twist
Wandering through narrow streets filled with cafés, restaurants and small boutique shops, it was easy to understand why so many Israeli visitors fall in love with Greece and keep coming back or simply stay permanently.
MMA Fighter Goes Viral for Response to Anti-Israel Jeers After Fight
It’s all too common that Israeli athletes such as Smotritsky compete in front of crowds that they expect will be disrespectful.
Shabbat, Sound Healing and a Dog Named Manifestation
“I wanted to have a space where we could share what we were feeling without hearing everything else that was going on.”
America 250 Exhibit Brings Revolutionary and Civil War Histories to Life
The documents were carefully selected by the National Archives’ Office of Presidential Libraries in collaboration with nonprofit Presidential Foundations.
Simply Gifted — Carrot and Tahini Topped Sweet Potatoes
Nowadays, as a mother and grandmother, I need to cook healthy, nutritious meals and sweet potatoes are one of my favorite ingredients.
Celebrate Lemon Month: Pickled and Preserved Lemon Recipes from Beth A. Lee
Fresh lemons are the perfect finish to a cocktail, salad dressing, soup, marinade, fish or chicken main, pasta, pesto, etc.
Table for Five: Chukat-Balak
Red Heifer
Fifty Reasons Why Jews are Particularly Grateful for America – and Others Should Be Too!
America’s 250th birthday arrives at a time when things have been especially lousy for Jews. But gratitude is a great Jewish value, so we’ve created a very special birthday present: an e-book with 250 reasons to be grateful for America.
Rosner’s Domain | What Is ‘Right Wing’ in Israel?
Right-wing voters view themselves as ideologues driven by core issues and substance, not by the admiration for a single politician.
Abu Yair: The Left’s New Superstar
Almost overnight, Yair Golan transformed from a retired general into one of the most talked-about politicians in Israel.
From the Favelas to SoFi Stadium: What Los Angeles Can Learn from Hosting the World Cup
Beyond the on-field excitement of global soccer lies a deeper opportunity: to draw hard-earned lessons from the nations that have long dominated the beautiful game.
Balancing Our Minds and Bodies
It is very hard to stay calm in these times, but I do believe the best way to do so is through balance.
Did Hamas Accomplish Its Oct. 7 Goal?
The Hamas supporters have managed, at least for now, to turn American elected officials and a large portion of the American population against one of its foremost allies.
The Politics of War
Trump’s biggest headache will be Netanyahu, his erstwhile ally who now recognizes that continued loyalty to the American leader would cost him his own reelection this fall.
From BRAVE-ish to SXSW: My Jet Set TV Interview on Austin, Four Seasons Luxury, and Storytelling
There Would Be No America Without Jerusalem
America is not modern Israel’s creator, and Israel is not America’s dependent. The two nations have influenced one another and benefited from one another, but the deepest roots of that relationship predate them both.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.