Israel: 9 Jews Among 195 Murdered In Bombay India Terror Massacre

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency (Updated November 29)

Jerusalem --- November 28, 2008...... As the sun began to set over the ancient walls of Jerusalem and the tranquil, sandy beaches of Tel Aviv, the Israel government confirmed that 9 Jewish hostages had been murdered in Bombay.

Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the director of American Friends of Lubavitch, said that two of the dead were Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, who directed the Chabad House. Rabbi Holtzberg was a dual US - Israel citizen; Rivka was Israeli. The identities of the other three Israelis were not released. Earlier, a cook from Chabad House fled to safety with the Holtzbergs' 2-year-old son, Moshe. The boy’s pants were soaked in blood when he emerged.

In 2003, Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife, left New York to run the Chabad center known as the Nariman House, where they managed a synagogue and led religious classes and other social and outreach activities at the center, one of about 3,500 outposts around the world run by the Lubavitch Hasidic movement.

Bombay, India had become the latest victim of Islamic terror attacks against democratic nations. A series of well coordinated terror attacks began around 10.30 pm on Wednesday with terrorists armed with assault rifles and grenades.

India Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy stated that “unknown terrorists” have opened fire in “at least seven to eight places” across the city. They included two five-star hotels (the Taj Palace and Oberoi-Trident) the main railway station, a hospital and a restaurant popular with tourists.

"We extend our condolences to the families in the United States and elsewhere, who have lost their loved ones in these barbarous attacks and wish the wounded a speedy and full recovery. This brutal mass murder, and its tragic aftermath, resonate with all Israelis and underscores the need for close cooperation with our friends and allies. A concerted global front to fight against terror and extremism, anywhere and everywhere, is now more than ever, an imperative. We are of course shocked and saddened by the intentional and brutal terrorist attack on the Chabad Center at Mumbai. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Chabad community and the families in Israel and all over the world, at this difficult hour." - Israel Ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor

In the early hours of Thursday, India military commandos stormed the Taj Palace hotel, killing two terrorists and freeing some guests. Flames and a massive plume of smoke billow out of the hotel.

A terrorist involved in the India attacks told a television channel that he belonged to an India Islamic group seeking an end to the persecution of Indian Muslims.

As of this report, more than 195 people have been killed in the terror attacks in India. The Israel embassy in Bombay states that 10-20 of its nationals were among the hostages.

"In India or elsewhere, there are extremist Islamic forces who don’t accept our existence, or the Western way of life," Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a news conference in Jerusalem. "It's a shame that this kind of event must remind part of the Western of the world about this reality. The target is not just Israel, but the West."

India security sources have stated that the Islamic terrorists targeted Americans and Britons, as well as Jews.

Livni said in her news conference that five Israelis were accounted for. At the time of her statement, at 5 P.M. in Israel, India commandos were still cleaning out the building at Nariman House and further information was unavailable. India and Israel security forces were said to be cooperating closely. Israel Radio quoted Indian security officials as saying that the five Israeli hostages were murdered at the outset of the terror attacks in Bombay and not during the commando raids.

Earlier a huge crowd of onlookers cheered as a group of India commandos left the besieged Jewish center, prompting India television channels to announce the operation to dislodge the terrorists had ended.

Some people punched the air with their fists. Other India commandos chatted on the roof of the building, looking relaxed.

The Mumbai, India police chief said the operation was still in its final stages, while Dutt said the third floor of the building had not been secured.

A short while before, the commandos had blown up a hole in the outer wall of the building.

The iron bars of Jewish center windows were twisted after repeated gunfire during the two-day siege.

 

 
Rabbi Holtzberg's 2-year-old son Moshe being rescued in India.

Four Israelis were among a group of hostages that were rescued by India special forces from the Oberoi Trident Hotel today, an Israel Foreign Ministry official said in Mumbai.

"There are no more Israeli hostages at the Oberoi hotel," Haim Hoshen, the Foreign Ministry's Head of Asia and South Asia Department, said, speaking by phone from the Israeli Consulate in Mumbai.

Israel, concerned about its citizens trapped or missing in terrorist-ravaged Mumbai, has sent intelligence officers to India, the Haaretz newspaper reported.

Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak also offered security, intelligence and humanitarian aid to India but the India government appeared not interested in any high-profile Israeli security assistance.

Israel defense officials have criticized the way that India security forces handled the terror attacks in Bombay, after it appeared that India turned down their offer of help to defeat the terrorists.

The officials, from Israel's security forces, said that the Indian troops prematurely stormed the besieged hotels where terrorists were holding hostages, risking lives in the process.

Indian counter-terrorist forces were well trained but failed to gather sufficient intelligence before engaging the terrorists, they said.

"In hostage situations, the first thing the forces are supposed to do is assemble at the scene and begin collecting intelligence," said a former official in Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency.

As Islamic terrorists were preparing to attack Mumbai, western intelligence officials were turned not to Asia but to the US.

For weeks there was much chatter and documentation of a possible al-Qaida plot to disrupt the US presidential campaign. On Wednesday the FBI and US homeland security department warned of the possibility of an attack on transport systems in the New York area timed for the start of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The terrorists who took part in the well-coordinated attacks on Mumbai appeared to have slipped under the radar of the world's most sophisticated intelligence agencies.

American lives are still at risk in the Indian city of Mumbai, where two U.S. citizens were killed in terrorist attacks and at least two others wounded, the State Department said Friday.

The U.S. made plans to send a team of investigators to India to learn more about the group behind the bloody assaults that murdered 150 people.

Warning that "Americans are still at risk on the ground," Gordon Duguid, a US State Department spokesman, confirmed the deaths of two Americans in Mumbai.

Israel and India have shared common security interests in recent years, and India has become a leading buyer of Israeli arms and weapons technologies. Security teams from both nations happened to be meeting in New Delhi on Sept. 11, 2001; they turned on the TV and watched the attacks in the United States, sharing assessments together.

 
Indian commandos land on the Chabad Center in Bombay (Mumbai) in a failed rescue effort.
Israeli security has criticized India for not allowing Israeli Intel and commandos to take part and
for not properly preparing for the assault on the many locations for which Islamic terrorists took control.

As the Israel Foreign Ministry opened a situation room in Jerusalem over the Mumbai terror attacks, Israel's equilvant of the Red Cross - the Magen David Adom sent a team of paramedics, medics and other professionals to Mumbai, India on Thursday to assist with rescue efforts.

The delegation will help to treat casualties and locate missing persons in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, the Joint and the International Red Cross.

The team will also assist in making arrangements for any Israeli casualties to be flown home.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that she had spoken to Israel Ambassador to India Mark Sofer, who informed her that after the four Israelis were found in the Oberoi hotel, 17 Israelis were still unaccounted for in Mumbai.

Shabbat usually transcends into Israel's Achilles heel in the media war against terrorism. As Shabbat arrives in Jerusalem, several Israel spokespeople disappear. The lack of critical public relations and public affairs to get the messages out are said by a few designed to not to offend the religious Jewish community. But it was still light in Washington yesterday, as Israel's spokesperson in Washington D.C. Jonathan Pelled arranged for a statement to be made by Israel's Ambassador to the US, Sallai Meridor.

Meridor issued the following statement on Friday condemning the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.

"Israel strongly condemns the terrorist attacks which have taken place in Mumbai, India. Israel stands behind the people of India and our hearts go out to the victims and their families.

"We extend our condolences to the families in the United States and elsewhere, who have lost their loved ones in these barbarous attacks and wish the wounded a speedy and full recovery.

"This brutal mass murder, and its tragic aftermath, resonate with all Israelis and underscores the need for close cooperation with our friends and allies. A concerted global front to fight against terror and extremism, anywhere and everywhere, is now more than ever, an imperative.

"We are of course shocked and saddened by the intentional and brutal terrorist attack on the Chabad Center at Mumbai. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Chabad community and the families in Israel and all over the world, at this difficult hour," the statement said.

"It is worse than what happened on September 11 in 2001 in the US," an anguished Bhisham Mansukhani, a travel trade and hospitality writer associated with the Paprika Media of the Essar Group, told IANS by telephone from Mumbai. "Suddenly we all feel so close. Imagine, terrorists opening fire at diners and guests at five-star hotels and eateries. It is a nightmare," Kapoor said.

But Mumbai, as Manshukhani says, has the ability to forget. It will get back on its feet as New York, London, Turkey, Spain, Paris and Israel have."

 

 

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