26/11 Mumbai attacks: New report reveals how Chabad House became Jewish target

LONDON: A new report on the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks has shed light on how Chabad House was chosen as a Jewish target, according to a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper.

In 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists (LeT) carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks killing at least 174 people and leaving 300 wounded. During the 26/11 terror attack, six Jews were murdered by terrorists.

Rather than being an opportunistic target, the Chabad House was sought out as a Jewish location, the Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported citing government sources in India. Wiretap recordings of Mumbai attackers have revealed how the terrorists chose a Jewish target and other locations as part of a plan to strike several communities and to elicit maximum attention from the world’s media.

According to the newspaper, the recordings of the terrorists discussing their selection of targets are confirmation of the strategy that was used in the deployment of the 10 heavily armed terrorists, all of them Pakistani nationals. The report further stated that among the voices heard is that of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who is said to have masterminded the Mumbai attacks.

The Jewish Chronicle report further said that an Israeli filmmaker was told by Indian government sources about the wiretap tapes while working on a documentary about Mumbai’s Jewish community. “They’ve got recordings from the terrorists where they specifically mention the Chabad House as a target. When they crossed with the boat to Mumbai they knew where they were headed. That was one of the targets on the list,” he told the JC.

“They knew targeting Jews was going to make more headlines.” The director added that the Jewish community in India and in Mumbai was never persecuted. “There’s a thriving community. It’s a great example of a country where Jews were never persecuted and in today’s world, that’s really rare. It’s a city of 23 million people and it’s made out of many, many different religions and they all get along. The purpose of this attack was to shatter this harmony.”

Israeli filmmaker Oren Rosenfeld’s film, tracing the history of Mumbai’s jew community from the destruction of the first temple to the present day, is set to be released in 2022. (ANI)