Three years after the Chabad House in south Mumbai was pulverised by terrorists, the Jewish Centre is yet to get a refurbished look and though the court case over renovating the site has been settled, the necessary permission from the civic body is still to come through.
On second day of his visit, Modi will also meet Moshe Holtzberg, the Israeli child who as a toddler survived the 26/11 attack.
The Centre has accorded a security cover of armed Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) commandos for the Hyderabad premises of Bharat Biotech, one of the major COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers in the country, official sources said on Tuesday.
'They are both very individualistic and have similar personalities.'
'Since I felt there could be more, I had told the local authorities to screen every hostage carefully, since we felt that some could have been staying as guests.'
In India, the anniversary of 26/11 comes and goes with only the bare minimum of remembrance. We don't even bother very much about honouring those who acted with great bravery that day, rues Vir Sanghvi.
Moshe, 11, was two-year-old when his parents were killed in the Mumbai attacks at Nariman House (also known as Chabad House) by Pakistan-based LeT terrorists.
Ten terrorists of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. At least 166 people, including six Americans and nine terrorists, were killed and over 300 others were injured in the attacks which began on November 26, 2008.
"We were praised for eliminating nine but the people of India ensured that the 10th terrorist meets the same fate," a top National Security Guard commander, who was in the thick of action during the 26/11 attacks, said on Wednesday.
The Israeli diplomat also underlined that the objective of the attack was to cripple the Indian society, economy and culture, as well as the growing bilateral relationship between India and Israel.
Israel's Ambassador Mark Sofer, will shortly return to his homeland after a four-year-long, eventful stint in India, interacts with rediff readers in the chat room.
Mumbai attack co-accused David Coleman Headley on Wednesday testified he had conducted a surveillance of the German Bakery in Pune and identified Chabad houses in Delhi, Pushkar and Pune as potential bombing targets.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley on Wednesday told a United States court that he had conducted a surveillance of the German Bakery in Pune and identified Chabad houses in Delhi, Pushkar and Pune which could be bombed.
Oberoi hotel, one of the sites attacked during the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, was not originally on the list of targets for surveillance given to David Headley by his Inter Services Intelligence handler. But the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative made a video of it after filming Chabad House as he had an hour to spare before he could catch a movie.This was revealed by the LeT operative in his testimony before a Chicago court during co-accused Tahawwur Rana's recently-concluded trial.
Indian security agencies have deported a French passport holder of Algerian origin.
Dutt, along with about 200 'black cats' commandos, had boarded an IL-76 aircraft of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC) to fly the first batch of the counter-terrorist strike force to Mumbai soon after the western metropolis reported multiple shootouts and public killings in the night of November 26, 2008.
Nanny Sandra Samuel, who saved Baby Moshe from the clutches of terrorists during the November 26 terror attack in 2008, will be granted Israeli citizenship.
Rediff.com journalists Vaihayasi Pande Daniel and Rajesh Karkera attend an emotionally-charged ceremony marking the killing of Jewish Rabbi Gavriel and his wife Rivka Holtzberg in the attack on Chabad House during the 26/11 carnage. They also attend a parallel ceremony, mourning slain NSG commando Gajendra Singh.
Headley, accused of masterminding terror attacks in India at the behest of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, is believed to have visited Pune on a business visa and left for Mumbai later, police sources said
Terrorists determined to launch an attack or plant a bomb at Pune's Osho ashram can easily do so because of lax security arrangements, claims a private security marshal handling the security setup at the main gate of the ashram at lane number 1 in Koregaon Park, barely 100 metres from the German Bakery where a powerful bomb explosion on February 13 killed nine people and injured 60 others.
Addressing media persons after visiting the blast site and the Sassoon Hospital, where the injured have been admitted, Chidambaram said: "Many soft targets need to be monitored. The best police officers have been put on the job and the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad have taken over case."
Its proximity to Chabad house, the Jewish prayer house, in Pune could have been a factor behind the blast. The bakery was only metres away from the Chabad house in Koregaon Park. By setting off a blast at the bakery, terrorists could have well sent a grim message to foreigners as well as Jews
'We can't say that a year has gone by and it doesn't hurt. But that they didn't succeed, that we can say!' Voices from a memorial ceremony in New York for Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivika who were killed in the terror attacks.
The former head commander of the Israeli Security Agency's Anti Terror Security School talks about Al Qaeda, dirty bombs, Chabad House and the 26/11 terror attacks.
In September-October 2008, the Mumbai police had arrested four IT-savvy members of the Indian Mujahideen, who had played a role in sending e-mail messages in the name of the IM before and after the Ahmedabad blasts of July 2008, and before the New Delhi blasts of September 2008, by hacking into wi-fi networks in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Three of them were from Pune
Four Hasidic rabbinical students at the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, remember slain Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah.
Nariman House, a Jewish establishment in Mumbai, which was the target of recent terror attacks that killed about 200 people, including eight Israelis, would be reopened soon.The complex, also known as the Chabad House, has been closed after Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka were killed by the terrorists holed up in the house. The Jewish leaders told the New York Times that after the death of Rabbi, several young Chabad couples from around the world stepped forward.
'American-Israelis know the dangers involved. They know they can be targeted, so they always take precautions. Security is important to them,' says Rabbi Sharon Benjamin Galsulkar.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livnitold told the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday that her ministry is working to bring Sandra Samuel to Israel. The toddler's parents -- Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivika -- serving at the Chabad House or Nariman House in Mumbai as the emissaries of the Chabad movement were killed in the audacious attack.
Here are the highlights from the Lashkar terrorist's deposition on Day 4.
Has India learned the right lessons from how it handled 26/11? How can the NSG be freed from the stranglehold of red tape? Will India end up repeating the same mistakes if another terror strike were to take place?
President Reuven Rivlin calls India "an important ally and close friend of Israel, a state with whom we have much in common" at the start of the 6-day visit.
Grandparents of Moshe Holtzberg, who survived the 26/11 carnage at the age of two, talk of how questions by the now 12-year-old boy only add to their grief.
Moshe's laughter rings in the home of the Rosenbergs, his maternal grandparents in Afula, Israel. Abhishek Mande Bhot listens in.
Here is how Headley became an 'international' terrorist from being a nondescript
Five years after his arrest during the 26/11 strike on Mumbai and over a year after he was hanged to death after a much-publicised trial, Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Ajmal Kasab continues to inspire myriad conspiracy theories.
Modi also met Moshe's Indian nanny Sandra Samuels, who managed to escape with him from the Nariman House which came under attack by Pakistan-based LeT terrorists.
Nine American and Israeli victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks have demanded a compensation of $688 million (around Rs 4,233 crore) from the Pakistan-based perpetrators of the terror assault, including Jammat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed.
Here are the revelations made by Headley so far in the deposition