India-Israel Bond Extends From Our ‘DNA’ To Fight Terror: Israeli Diplomat On 26/11 Anniversary

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Israeli Consul General to Mumbai, Kobbi Shoshani, on Sunday expressed solidarity with the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks saying that the “DNA” of both India and Israel to fight against terrorism is the foundation of a strong bond between the two nations.

He also drew a comparison between the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai with the recent October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

Speaking to media, Shoshani said, “26/11 saw terror being unleashed on innocents. This is the feature of terror attacks all over the world, this is a systematic work. We can see from the incident and its aftermath that we are dealing with right now that there is a direct line linking the two attacks (the 26/11 and October 7 attacks). So many innocents were slaughtered. The aim of terrorism is to bring harm and death to people.”

The Israeli diplomat said Israel’s hearts are with India on the 15th anniversary of the 26/11 attacks and the resolve of both countries to fight against terrorism is the “most important thing” that binds them.

“Today, on 26/11, our hearts are with India, with Mumbai, with the people who were killed here by terrorists. That is the most important thing. The bond between India and Israel is not only because we are brothers or because of our history, it’s because of our DNA to fight against terrorism, that’s the most important thing”.

Earlier, Israeli Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon also paid homage to the victims of Mumbai attacks at the Chabad House memorial, which has the names of all victims engraved on its walls.

Gilon said that terrorism is a global phenomenon and countries have to join hands to fight against it.

“As PM Modi said rightly so terrorism is a global phenomenon. You have to join hands globally. Countries and free people of the world have to join hands and efforts in order to fight it. I think India and Israel demonstrate in our actions and friendship in what we do together, the joining of these hands to eliminate terrorism,” he said.

He added, “Each country has its watershed event. We have all suffered terrorism for ages and we still suffer — 9/11 for the US, 26/11 for India and October 7 for us. It’s not like other terror acts. This is the thing that changes your DNA and thinking about how you have to treat terror and terrorists…The second population with the most casualties after the Indians were Jews and Israelis…It’s something else that connects us and makes our bonds even stronger.”

Notably, six Jews were among the 166 people killed during the attacks. Recently, Israel officially designated Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as a terrorist organisation. The move came without any prompting or request by the Indian government.

On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 heavily-armed terrorists, belonging to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, unleashed a macabre dance of death in the country’s commercial capital.

Holding the city under siege over four days, the terrorists killed 166 civilians, including foreigners. They targeted several key public installations in the city, including the Chabad House, a Jewish seminary.

The targets were carefully chosen after being surveyed, for maximum impact. The key landmarks that were targeted by the Lashkar men included the Taj and Oberoi Hotels, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the Jewish centre at Nariman House, and the Leopold Cafe.

Apart from natives, these places are also known to be frequented by Europeans and Jews.

While one of the 10 terrorists, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, was taken alive at CST, the rest were gunned down by the police and elite commandoes who were called in to secure the city.

In May 2010, Qasab was handed the death penalty and was hanged in a maximum security prison in Pune city two years later.

The attacks left deep emotional scars in the nation’s consciousness and continue to bring nightmares for many.