Mumbai terrorist confirms: Israelis and Jews were targeted

Muslim terrorist Asam Kasab, 21, the only Mumbai killer so far caught alive, told Indian police that his group was sent with a specific mission to target Israelis to avenge the Palestinians.

That is why they hit Nariman House, which included the Chabad House Jewish outreach center, the Times of India reported. The motive, the mass-murderer in a Versace T-shirt said, was to avenge Israeli "atrocities."

The Chabad House, nestled inconspicuously in a crowded apartment block, was seized by the terrorists along with two large hotels as primary destinations. (Enroute they hit a railway station, a restaurant, and a hospital.) Some of the terrorists had actually rented rooms there, posing as Malaysian students, the captured terrorist Kassab reported. It was not immediately clearly why non-Jewish students were invited to stay at a Jewish outreach center, but the hospitality of the Chabad to all visitors, Jewish and non-Jewish is well known.

But then again, The New York Times was not sure whether the killers had just stumbled into Chabad to drink some kosher Darjeeling tea and lay tefillin: "It is not known if the Jewish center was strategically chosen, or if it was an accidental hostage scene," the paper asserted, calling into question the claim that it was deliberately targeted that was made by Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, whom it quoted immediately after its own cowardly disclaimer.

The Times, like many other media, was also wrong on another count: It was not a "hostage scene" at all: the terrorists had no intention of bargaining for the release of their Jewish victims. The terrorists just wanted to kill Jews, and apparently preferred to do so after beating and perhaps torturing them, killing the women in front of the men.

Israeli media reported that some of the victims were found wrapped in prayer shawls, in accordance with Jewish burial traditions, apparently by one or more of the Jews who remained alive after the women were killed after being beaten and bound, hand and foot. Jewish male victims were founded dead and bloodied, collapsed over open books of Talmud.

When Israeli paramedics were allowed into the destroyed house, with pools of blood all over the floors, they found on the fourth floor the bodies of the terrorists, who had been shot by Indian commandos, neatly laid out. Dumped on the beds in one inside room, the Israelis discovered the bound bodies of several women. Outside the crowd pumped their fists, chanted patriotic verses and celebrated the heroic soldiers, scores of whom took 48 hours to subdue two terrorists and failed to save anyone inside.

The name of Ms Yocheved Harpaz, 59, a mother of four from the Tel Aviv suburb of Givatayim, was identified and added to the list of those brutally murdered by the terrorists. A sixth victim is a Mexican Jewish woman. Israeli officials are waiting for DNA tests on some of the bodies to be completed before announcing their names.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert harshly condemned the terrorist attack: "This terrible sight of Chabad House leaders wrapped in prayer shawls is shocking," Olmert told ministers at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "These are pictures that bring us back to the moments in history which we had hoped would never return." He added: "It seems that hatred of Jews and Israelis provides motivation for such murderous acts." He should have added: "And signs of weakness and acts of corruption." But he did not.

Olmert said the attacks were "the product of extremist Islam -- brutal and unrestrained, which tries to sow death and destruction wherever it can." The Prime Minister, despite his caretaker status, has vowed to cede more land to Arabs states and Palestinian groups officially committed to Israel's eradication.

The prime minister emphasized that there was "proper and correct cooperation between us and the relevant Indian authorities" during the ordeal, but dismissed suggestions that Israel had been assisting with the commando operation. "At no stage were the issues of whether or not Israel should join the operation, or do things that were within the Indian government powers, on the agenda," he said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak observed that there were more Israelis killed in Mumbai by the Muslim murderers than any other national group.

Meanwhile, two high-ranking Israeli security men arrived in Mumbai on Sunday to assist with the investigation, the Jerusalem Post reported. The two security men, one a representative of the Foreign Ministry and the other from the Shin Bet security service, are taking part in the investigation and coordinating security at Israeli sites in India with local authorities, defense officials said. The Israelis' presence was not officially made public.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a seven-member forensics team was leaving Sunday for Mumbai to help identify the bodies of the Israelis. An IAF plane was to fly the team to India and return with the bodies.

In the sole uplifting note to emerge from the order, Sandra Samuel, the nanny who rescued two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg from Islamic terrorists who stormed the Chabad House in Mumbai, is enroute to Israel and is expected to be a hero's welcome and be granted an extended entry by the Interior Ministry. Indeed, the interior minister was considering granting Sandra the title of 'righteous gentile' title, according to non-Jews who save Jewish lives. The toddler was reunited with his Israeli grandparents, Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, on Friday. Little Moshe's parents, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, were killed in the Chabad House massacre together with at least four others.

Tags: Mumbai, chabad, security, terror attacks

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Comment by wharold on December 14, 2008 at 6:25am: Current Israeli tactics have been less than spectacular lately due to the prevalence of the lawer classes involved.

That said, we're dealing with !slam that has only one real demand: death. Death for them, death for us. There are no "negotiating" phases any more.

As for being lax regarding the immenent threat posed, though criticizable, there is a fatique that must set in when knowing the !slam never sleeps and their goals are millenial.

Comment by david power on December 14, 2008 at 12:41am: isreal an its people ,wonderful.they will never never beat you.the god of issac is with you always and your always in our prayers.stand up to the bullies you have nothing to fear give them nothing never.you are every thing to us true chrstians your always in our thoughs

Comment by Cynthia on December 3, 2008 at 8:44am: I think it's important to critically evaluate the security forces and commando actions and to question why Indian authorities did not take warnings from the US as well as informants of this planned attack from Pakistani Islamists seriously. And why wasn't the public made aware of these warnings so they could take action to protect themselves? I've watched several videos of news reports related to Chabad House and remain puzzled about why it took three days to subdue or eliminate the two Islamic terrorists holing up inside. I realize the terrorists created mass chaos but a SWAT team or commando unit arriving so late left little hope for a rescue effort. Israel and India have a strong, positive relationship which can only be strengthened by a united front against Islamic terror.

Comment by RedSniper on December 2, 2008 at 3:49pm: Again - (and it's getting rather old) - as tragic and heartwrenching it was for the Jews and their well-wishers, please remember that India (a democratic, secular and friendly to Israel) was the principal victim of these attacks and overwhelming majority of casualties were Indian. It's all well and good to critisize the responce of their security forces, sitting in a comfortable chair, and tapping away at the keyboard - and it's also banal and puerille beyond counting.

Comment by shiv raj kumar on December 2, 2008 at 8:28am: Mr.barry shaw,

Yes, I agree that the people who were standing outside the hotels look medioker.You may not knowing that these people were police and I agree that they were not very well trained and I think the periphery outer ring was taken by these police.

Regarding that of getting down from helicopters may be you have not seen the carnage around that building were everything as been destroyed they were shooting & hurling grenades that the reason they came by helicopters which was the safest option.If they would have trried to sneeked in may be terrorists might have thought that Indian forces have really attacked them and kill all the hostages if at all they were alive.

Regarding night goggles there is no reports in media also that why security forces didnot use these sophisticated gadgets.

Yes India is soft target for these terrorists as there is no political willness to combat terror as you see in case of Israel.

Comment by Barry Shaw on December 1, 2008 at 7:56pm: Allow me to answer shiv and RedSpider.

Some aspects of the poor strategy of the Indian counter-terror squad was obvious even to the most inexperienced eye.

I have spoken to people involved in Israeli security and intelligence and anti-terror activities.

There are some basic principles that you do not break when facing a terror/hostage situation in a confined building. These principles were not adhered to by the Indian anti-terror units.

What should have been done were:

Calmly assess the number of terrorists and their location within the building.
Calmly assess the condition of hostages and their number.
Gain extra time to help you assess the situation and gain intelligence, even if this means engaging the terrorists in negotiations. You obtain valuable insights when communicating with them that will help you plan you assault.
The delay can calm the situation and also allow you to plant sensing equipment, microphones, penetrating cameras, etc. This was not done by the Indian army at any of the locations. It was not done at all at Nariman House where the public and Tv viewers could see soldiers shooting one-handed and blind into a nuilding containing hostages.

There is equipment and training for this scenario. The Indian 'black cats' purport themselves to be a highly trained and experienced counter-terror unit. They did not use them.

The terrorists were not on the lower floors when the 'black cats' rappelled from their helicopter on to the roof of the building. It was clear that the terrorists would have been warned and alarmed by the hovering helicopter and well aware of its purpose. You never do this when you have live hostages in a confined building with active terrorist who feel they have nothing to lose.

A silent night attack using the darkness and night-vision goggles may have been more successful. It may have enabled the Indian troops to get to some of the hostages before tackling the terrorists.

According the Israeli experts, and to my unprofessional eye, the Indian method was far too Rambo.

Comment by RedSniper on December 1, 2008 at 6:55pm: Furthermore - as Sandra Samuel (the righteous gentile nunny and saviour of the little orphan, Moshe) testified - the rabbi holtzberg and his wife were murdered immediatly after the misbegotten degenerates of perfidious religious background broke into the building (under whose roof they have been offered hospitality, by the way - another "admirable" trait of a Moslem rat-droppings). Let's not blame the Indian commandoes for not being clairvoyant or omnipotent - the truth is that Jewish residents of Nareeman house, as well as any other of more than 500 victims (dead or maimed) of the latest jihadist exploit were marked for death as soon as the wheels of it came in motion.

Comment by RedSniper on December 1, 2008 at 4:56pm: I'd be careful to critisize the responce of Indian security forces (although some front-end operators, captured by the media look like bafoons, ecpesially the guy pointing his MP-5 one handed, about a foot over his head, his arm fully extended). They were hit pretty hard, even some senior-level officers assassinated. The losses among them are high. Unfortunatelly, not many hostage resques go down as well as Entebbe - Beslan, Dubrovka Playhouse, Ma'alot, many more end up in carnage for the hostages and security forces. By all likelyhood in Nariman House, the hostages were murdered in early stages - remeber who the perpetrators were - the acolates of the "most peaceful, advanced, non-violent, enlightened and trust-worthy religion" in firmament - the kaffir hostages had no chance from the get-go.

Comment by Mary Hale on December 1, 2008 at 12:15pm: Remember the movie"Raid on Entebe" to rescue Jewish passengers from a hijacked airplane..Israel should have sent in a Commando unit to rescue those poor Jewish people..those terrorists who are killed will know whey they get to their paradise, that there are no 72 virgins waiting for them but find out too late they were fed a bunch of lies by their leaders..

Comment by Mary Hale on December 1, 2008 at 12:12pm: Why are the parties in the Knesset still putting up with Olmert..Get him out of there before he gives all of Israel to the Palestinians..and keep Bush and Rice away from Israel..they have become traitors to Israel..