Lessons Learned and Not Learned From the al-Nuseirat Raid

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.