Nine people are now known to have died at Chabad House after Muslim terrorists attacked the building in Mumbai several days ago. Haaretz identified several of the known dead as follows:
Authorities on Saturday named one of the Israeli victims as Yocheved Orpaz, 60…Another woman was identified as a Jewish resident of Mexico, whose name has not yet been released.
…Chabad-Lubavitch…confirmed…that an Israeli-born American rabbi, Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife Rivka, 28, were among the dead.
…Two other victim…have also been positively identified are Bentzion Chroman, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, and Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum, a U.S. citizen who lived in Jerusalem.
The Israeli newspaper reveals that Israeli counterrorism experts–while acknowledging that Indian authorities faced an almost impossible task in taking back their city from the terrorists who attacked it–harshly criticized the Indian response, which was abysmally slow, especially regarding the Chabad House invasion. When terrorists attack the only hope for the hostages lies in a quick, overpowering assault. The Indian authorities had to wait many hours for crack units to arrive from Dehli before they even began to contemplate a counter-attack. By then, most or all of the Chabad House hostages were long dead.
Why did it take 24 hours to subdue two terrorists in Chabad House? Why was there no security provided for a major Jewish facility in a city prone to Muslim terror attacks? The question should be asked of Chabad as well.
The Indian media has reacted harshly to the Israeli criticism feeling that the Israelis should understand the great suffering experienced by all the families of the Indian victims. But the truth of the matter is that while Israelis have had their share of counter-terrorism failures, criticism in this instance is more than warranted.
How do you allow possibly as few as ten terrorists to roam freely in your city for days without being detected? Why does it take three entire days to subdue so few gunmen? How do you allow multiple boats filled with armed men to land right under your nose at the city’s docks and walk right into town to perpetrate their mayhem? Is there no one home in the Indian counter-terror security establishment?
It isn’t as if India hasn’t had experience with this problem before. Why have they not learned from previous experience and mistakes? The N.Y. Times article linked above reveals that India’s response was a comedy of errors. It is hard to imagine that a modern nation like India, having had the experience it has had with terrorism, was so woefully unprepared. This is failure of the state and political leadership not to forsee and prepare for this eventuality. If I were the Congress Party I’d prepare for a drubbing in the next elections. The problem is that the political opposition is an even sorrier lot filled with Hindu extremists who, if anything, will exacerbate the very tensions that may’ve led the Muslim terrorists to attack in the first place.
Richard,
Did you ever think of the possibility of Mossad’s involvement? How come if the killers are Muslim, the majority dead are either Muslims or Hindus? How come the commandoes arrive right in time when the assailants enter the Nariman House? How come if this is an attack on the Israelis, the majority dead are not them? How come these attackers rented the Nariman House property prior to this incident? Considering the fact that Mossad has done it before with the train bombings, why can’t they do it again? Obama can readily deploy troops in Afghanistan the moment he takes power. Its not the bogus Muslim organizations names that the Indians are churning out right and left, its Mossad-Al-CIA-da that we need to be worried about.
@AJ:
God no, & Lord preserve us fr. the conspiracy theorists.
As an Israeli
Nobody in Israel is in any position to badmouth India.
Is Israel better than India in such bloody activities ? Please, he who says yes, give details? Should I remind people about the Indian soldiers who died trying to save non-Indians, Jews included.
People are blaming India for not being a security state and for not having a know-all secret police and for not having an armed guard in any street corner and in every public place. I envy them for that and I wish them well.
All in all, thank you India
Dear Richard,
People in India are asking the very same questions from their leaders and intelligence agencies as you are.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil and after much insistence Chief Minister of Mahrashtra Vilas Rao Deshmukh have resigned because of their negligence.
News reports are stating that the state government did receive information but chose to ignore it. (I need to research this topic more). PM Manmohan has finally said that we will have National Security Guard forces in atleast 4 cities in India, although this number needs to expand.
The stores coming out about the hostages being tortured is sickening. I have had no experience in security operations such as these but why were they allowed to killl and torture all those hostages? I thought the whole point of moving slow was to protect the hostages.
The truth is that all those affected have a right to question but the buck doesn’t stop there. We must all question the US if it doesn’t take a hard stance against Pakistan’s blantant complicity towards terrorism. It’s a joke knowing exactly where these terrorist camps are in Pakistan and not being able to do anything about it. We need US support.
P.S. – Currently I have no idea who I am going to vote for in the coming elections. Politicians have shown a blatant disregard towards the Indian public sentiment. It’s as if they no longer feel accountable.
dear richard,
you are right,for a superpower in waiting,india is woefully inadequate on a lot of fronts,perhaps this is a wake-up call
for indian politicians to be accountable…
the money hungry selfish power corrupt politicians need to be
booted out …
pakistan has similar politicians along with the rabble rousing mullahs and their gun-toting cretins who they unleash on
mumbai shores…
how do we get rid of this growing cancer[terrorism]????