Moshe Holtzberg, the Israeli child who lost his parents in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has called on the international community to find ways to combat terror so that “no one has to go through what he went through”.
‘Baby Moshe’, the youngest survivor of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, whose pictures of him hugging his chest in Nariman House – also known as Chabad House – surrounded by his Indian nanny Sandra, have won worldwide acclaim. lost both his parents Rabbi Gabriel Holtzberg and Rivka Holzberg in a terror attack by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists.
His parents were Chabad movement ambassadors in Mumbai.
On Thursday, the family prayed in memory of their loved ones at a cemetery in Jerusalem according to the Hebrew calendar.
In a recorded message shared by his family recently to PTI, Moshe, now 16, is heard narrating the story of his lucky escape in a daring act by his maternal grandmother, Sandra, “who saved him risked his life for”.
He also talked about growing up in Israel with his grandparents, Rabbi Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, who are raising him as their own son.
Finally, Moshe made a solemn appeal that the international community should take steps so that “no one goes through what I went through”.
Earlier this week, the Chabad movement held its annual convention in New Jersey. A senior member of the Chabad Movement said it was attended by 6,500 envoys and guests from all 50 US states and more than 100 countries and territories.
He said that Moshe’s parents, Gabby and Rivka, are remembered each year at a gathering and participants pray in their memory.
Moshe was recently invited to the opening ceremony of the newly elected Knesset (Israeli parliament) following the 1 November general elections in the Jewish nation, during which he recited a chapter from the Book of Psalms (Tehilim), “To my brothers and friends”. read.
The 26/11 attacks remain an emotional moment for many Israelis, who feel that the Mumbai terror attack is “a shared pain” that binds India and Israel together.
The attacks were a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks carried out by 10 LeT members. The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on 26 November and lasted until 29 November 2008. A total of 166 people were killed and over 300 were injured, including many foreign nationals.
Indian security forces killed nine Pakistani terrorists. Ajmal Kasab was the only terrorist who was caught alive. He was hanged after four years on 21 November 2012.
Several events are planned across Israel for Friday and Saturday (after Shabbat) to honor the victims of the attack, which also killed six Jews.
Israeli leaders and officials have repeatedly called for the perpetrators of this heinous crime to be “bred to justice”.
The Chabad Synagogue in the southern coastal town of Eilat holds a plaque commemorating the six Jewish victims of the attack – Gabriel Holtzberg, Rivka Holtzberg, Ari Lais, Ben Tzion Hermon, Yochevet Orpaz and Norma Zwatzblat Rabonowitz, praying that their souls rest in peace . Peacefully as we mark the 10th anniversary of the 2018 attacks.