9 Years After 26/11, Moshe Holtzberg Returns To Chabad House In Mumbai

All India | Reported by , Edited by | Updated: January 18, 2018 16:47 IST
9 Years After 26/11, Moshe Holtzberg Returns To Chabad House In Mumbai

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu meets Moshe Holtzberg at Chabad House in Mumbai

11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg by his side, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday opened a memorial at the Nariman House for the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people including Moshe's parents. Mr Netanyahu's Mumbai visit is the last leg of his India visit, and also the most emotional.

The Living Memorial project, as the memorial is called, will be housed on the top two floors and terrace of the Nariman House and will be dedicated to the victims of 26/11 attack. Part of it will have a special area designed to remember Moshe's parents -- Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka.

Moshe arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, his first visit to the city and the Jewish centre where he, as a toddler, lost his parents in the attacks but was saved by his nanny who saved him during the terrorist attack in 2008. Shortly after his arrival in the city, Moshe said he was happy. "Bahut khushi (I am very happy)". 

He had planned to visit Mumbai when he turned 13, but that was advanced by two years after an invitation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Israel last year.

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"Moshe's return is a message to terrorists that we will always win against terror. Mohammed Hafiz Saeed  and others who financed the terrorists are still free but they will eventually pay the price," Moshe's uncle, who shares his name, has told NDTV. 

Before heading to Nariman House, Mr Netanyahu also laid a wreath at the Taj Mahal hotel, another place that was attacked by terrorists in 2008.