Israel Matzav

Chabad House in Pune, India targeted

A bomb planted at a bakery that is popular with foreigners killed nine people and wounded 60 in Pune, India on Saturday night. But it turns out that the bakery may not have been the real target of the attack. The bakery is just a few yards from the Chabad House in Pune, and according to India's Home (Interior) Minister, it was Chabad House that was once again the target.

No Jews were killed in the Pune blast, although police officials said that foreigners were targeted. Among the dead and wounded were Iranians, Sudanese and Germans.

Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters that the Beit Chabad "has been on the radar [of terrorists] for quite some time." Chidambaram arrived at the Beit Chabad shortly after the attack as the official representative of the Indian Government. Beit Chabad emissary Rabbi Betzalel Kupchik thanked him for the permanent security stationed at the Beit Chabad, and added words of encouragement for the Indian Government's fight against terrorism.

People in the Beit Chabad building when the bomb exploded said they felt the building shake, and that it took them a few moments to realize that it had actually not been hit.

I'm sure you all recall that the Chabad House in Mumbai was targeted as part of a series of terror attacks in that city in November 2008. As in that incident, this incident is being blamed on Pakistani Muslims.

The bombing came just a day after nuclear rivals India and Pakistan set a date for their first formal dialogue since the Mumbai attacks prompted New Delhi to suspend wide-ranging talks aimed at normalizing relations after six decades of hostility.

On Sunday, Hindu nationalist leaders blamed the attack in the western city of Pune on majority-Muslim Pakistan and demanded the government call off the talks, scheduled for Feb. 25 in New Delhi.

Arun Jaitley of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party said India shouldn't restart peace talks until Pakistan stops allowing terrorists to base themselves there and punishes those involved in the Mumbai attacks.

"Terrorism and talks can't coexist," Jaitley said.

I wish Israel would learn that lesson.

By the way, there's an American connection to this attack too:

The bakery is about 200 yards (meters) from the meditation center that Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said had been surveyed by David Headley, who is facing charges in Chicago for allegedly scouting targets for the November 2008 Mumbai attack. Another senior official said Headley had also observed the Chabad House Jewish center near the bakery.

The center's rabbi, Betzalel Kupchik, told Israel's Army Radio station that four months earlier, Pune police warned him of possible attacks and stationed a guard around the clock at the center.

"We are not worried," Kupchik said. "We sleep here and eat here and hope for the best."

And in Washington, they continue to pretend that there's no longer any need for a global war on terror.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:44 PM