Jerusalem: Moshe Holtzberg, who as a toddler survived the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, was invited to the inaugural ceremony of the newly elected Knesset (Israeli parliament) on Tuesday in a special gesture.
The 16-year-old recited a Chapter from the Book of Psalms (Tehillim) “for my brothers and friends” during the inauguration ceremony.
Next week will mark the 14th anniversary of the horrific terror attacks during which 166 people were killed by 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, who also targeted the Mumbai Chabad House.
The 26/11 attack continues to be an emotional moment for a lot of Israelis who feel that the Mumbai assault “is a shared pain” that binds India and Israel together.
The day is marked by several events across the country to pay respects to the victims of the attack in which six Jews were also killed at the Nariman House, popularly known as the Chabad House, by LeT terrorists.
Israeli leaders and officials have repeatedly called for the perpetrators of the horrendous crime to be “brought to justice”.
Moshe was a two-year toddler at the time of the attack. His parents, Gabriel and Rivka Holtzberg, were killed in the attack, but he had a lucky escape when his nanny heard him crying and risked her own life to pull him out from the Chabad house.
The youngster addressed via video link an informal briefing of the Counter Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council on October 28 that met in Mumbai, calling upon to find news ways to fight terror so that “nobody has to go through what he has gone through”.
In the video, shared by his grandparents with PTI, he is heard narrating the incident and his lucky escape with the help of Sandra, “who risked her own life in order to save me”.
Moshe also said that his grandparents, Rabbi Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, have raised him as their own son since then in Israel.
Recalling his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Israel in 2017, Moshe said, “he hugged me warmly and was really excited and invited me with my grandparents to visit India”.
“It was very important for him to see me,” he added.
Later, they visited Mumbai during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India in 2018.
“I feel grateful to him (Modi) for his warmth and kindness,” said the youngster, who dreams of becoming the Director of the Chabad House in Mumbai.
“Your gathering here in Mumbai is very important so that you will find new ways to fight against terror, so that nobody goes through what I have gone through,” he concluded in his address to the Counter Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council.
The family will be holding the remembrance day prayers for their lost ones on November 24 in Jerusalem at the Mt. of Olives cemetery, as per the Hebrew Calendar, this year.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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