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ISRAELI CONSULATE CONFIRMS DEATH OF EIGHT ISRAELIS IN MUMBAI

29 November 2008

Victims, from left, Rabbi Gavriel Noadh Holtzerb and wife Rivka; Naomi Scherr and dad

KADDISH

An unspecified number of Israelis in Mumbai remain unaccounted for, an official from the Israeli Consulate in the terror-stricken Indian city told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday.

Speaking by phone from the Consulate just after the end of Shabbat in Mumbai, Haim Hoshen, the Foreign Ministry’s Head of the Asia and South Asia Department, said he preferred not to discuss the exact number of missing Israelis.

“We have a list from Israel of names of people who still haven’t made contact with their families. I’d prefer not to discuss the exact number at this stage,” Hoshen said. “What is certain is that the whereabouts of some of these people remain unknown.”

Hoshen spoke hours after the Foreign Ministry confirmed that eight bodies were recovered from Mumbai’s Chabad House, following an Indian helicopter rooftop commando raid which lasted for several hours.

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Authorities announced the name of a fourth Israeli victim, 60-year-old Yohevet Orpaz, after her family identified her body on Saturday afternoon, Israel Radio reported.

Orpaz was killed along with another eight people at the Chabad House. The Foreign Ministry said that seven of the nine bodies found in the building have been identified as Israelis. According to Israel’s ambassador to India, Mark Sofer, three Israelis had yet to be identified.

Commando fires at terrorists holed up in Chabad House

Earlier, Israel’s ZAKA rescue service said five hostages and two gunmen were killed inside the center. It did not identify the victims.

Livni did not confirm that report at a news conference Friday. But she said she could not be optimistic about the hostages’ survival.

She said members of Israel’s diplomatic mission to India had not entered the Chabad house building in Mumbai because explosives continued to go off after the siege was thought to be over.

Meanwhile however, Indian IBN TV reported that the operation at Nariman House, as the Chabad center is called, had come to its conclusion.

Troops descend from chopper to Chabad House roof

According to the report, local police were preventing people from entering the Chabad building, citing fears that the structure could collapse after the immense damage it sustained while under siege over the last three days.

The deceased included Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, who ran the Chabad House. They ran the movement’s local headquarters, which was one of 10 sites attacked.

A Chabad-Lubavitch spokesman, Rabbi Zalman Schmotkin, identified two other victims as Bentzion Chroman, an Israeli with dual US citizenship, and Rabbi Leibish Teitlebaum, an American from Brooklyn. At least one of the remaining two victims in the Chabad House is a woman and both are Israelis.

Indian commandos were still combing the floors of Nariman House for other casualties.

Hoshen said six members of Israel’s Burial Society (ZAKA) had arrived to help identify the bodies. “We are continuing to deal with all of the sorrowful events here,” he said. “We will soon go and meet a victim’s family in order to officially inform them of the death of their loved ones.” Hoshen refrained from indicating how many bodies had been identified by Saturday evening.

The Consulate was also working closely with Indian authorities to ensure a swift transfer of the bodies to Israel for burial, Hoshen said.

Hoshen said there was no doubt that the Chabad House was the target of a premeditated and planned assault, adding that security had been stepped up around the Consulate. “We are very aware [of the heightened danger]. As you can imagine, all of the necessary preparations have been made,” he said.

Chabad activists who had arrived in Mumbai and who held a Shabbat meal for the remaining Jews in the city, including the parents of Rivka Holtzberg, Rabbi Shimon Rozenberg and his wife Yehudit, have been advised by Indian police not to disclose their movements.

In an interview for the Chabad Website held minutes before the entrance of Shabbat in Mumbai, Chabad Rabbi Dov-Be’er Goldberg said he was hosting the Rozenbergs and two Israeli nationals who had survived a hostage ordeal at the Oberoi Trident hotel.

“We have received instructions from the Indian police and Embassy staff not to discuss our location, since the Chabad House is now a terror target,” Goldberg said.

On Friday, the Israeli Consulate confirmed that four Israelis were among the group of hostages rescued by Indian special forces from the Oberoi on Friday.

“There are no more Israeli hostages at the Oberoi hotel,” Haim Hoshen told the Post.

“Two of the freed hostages arrived at the consulate, and were put on a flight to Israel half an hour ago. The other two have been transferred to another hotel,” he said early Friday afternoon.

The IDF attache to India, who arrived in Mumbai from New Delhi, is liaising between the Indian military and the Israeli Consulate, keeping Israeli diplomatic staff updated on the latest developments, Hoshen said. “We have gone to hospitals to check for Israelis, and thank God, we haven’t found anything at this stage,” he added on Friday.

Hoshen was staying at the Oberoi Hotel when the building came under attack, and described hearing a number of explosions go off around him as he attended a reception. He evacuated the area leaving all of his belongings in the hotel.

The staff of the Israeli consulate in Mumbai has been working “24 hours a day” since the crisis began, Hoshen said. “We managed to catch a couple of hours of sleep last night,” he said.

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