Indian media react angrily to Israeli criticism of Chabad rescue operation

[IndianaGreen]

Source: Haaretz

Last update - 02:27 29/11/2008

Indian media react angrily to Israeli criticism of Chabad rescue operation

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent

Indian media have reacted angrily to Israeli criticism of the Indian commando operation against the terrorists who took control of Chabad house in Mumbai.

Six of the hostages inside the center were killed, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka.

Israeli and international media quoted Israeli security officials as claiming the operation was risky and premature. Indian media published the criticisms at length, and although there has yet to be an official reaction from the Indian government, local journalists and television commentators have reacted strongly.

They accuse Israel of casting doubt on the effectiveness of their 'brave' Indian commandos, and claim that Israel has a bad record in hostage-rescue operations, aside from the successful Operation Entebbe in 1976.

Eli Blotserkovski, the political envoy to the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, told Haaretz, "This emphasizes the need for all the international community, not just India and Israel, to act in a coordinated manner against terrorism."


Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1041952.html

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Related thread:

Israeli experts say Indian forces acted prematurely in Mumbai

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3621713

[JI7]

1. isn't that like Republicans saying we are attacking the troops

if we are critical of the war ?

[xchrom]

2. fuckin bullshit -- then they need to figure out a way to run india. nt

[hlthe2b]

3. Huh? I'm not following...

re: "they need to figure out a way to run India." Who?

[xchrom]

4. israel. nt

[Behind the Aegis]

5. fucking absurd -- your response.

[Acadia Blue]

9. Israel, work with the world instead of being hyper bellicose and critical.

[Suji to Seoul]

6. My rabbi here in Korea is in tears because Rabbi Holtzberg was

a close personal childhood friend.

The Indian official fucked up. . .as did the Germans in 1972.

More Jewish blood spilled. I'm tired of Jews being targets. We've been targets for 3000 years.

[puebloknot]

7. I'm not a Jew, and I'm tired of it, too. Madness! nt

[Acadia Blue]

14. Blaming India instead of everyone getting together and planning

to stop the terrorists is not the way to go. Israel is not the only country who lost people in this mess, and Isreal has lost more in its own country from terrorism than most. So Israel try to be constructive and join with others to solve the problem.

[puebloknot]

17. I didn't say anything about blaming India. I responded to a Jew in distress.

I have sympathy for *everyone* who lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy.

I'm sure Israel is just waiting for your advice about how to "be constructive and join with others to solve the problem."

I smell a little anti-Israel sentiment here. Israel is a very small country surrounded by hostile neighbors. Most of the Jewish population there lost friends and relatives in the Holocaust. Coming to Israel, they were faced with a struggle to survive immediately. Going back to Poland after the end of the war, they were murdered.

I'm not a Jew, but I have concern for the anti-Israel sentiment being so blatantly expressed these days. That does not mean that I don't have major concern for all the people in the world who are being affected by terrorism. I just don't see a lot of suicide bombers coming out of Israel.

The back and forth of who started it all in any given conflict boggles the mind, and I agree that constructive means need to be employed (something other than war, for example) to try to solve the problems. But let's not pick on Israel alone.

[Acadia Blue]

8. Israel shoots from the hip like GW. Countries other than Israel lost

people in this attack. Israel, its not the time to blame, but the time for unity. We all need to get together in a sane way to stop terrorism.
All you are doing is making everything worse in the tradition of GW Bush. And you have not really handled all your terrorists attacks very well either. You ran over an American on purpose and thought that was fine.

[puebloknot]

18. That Buddha sitting in your message, and your commentary seem ...

... not to have made each other's acquaintance.

[LeftishBrit]

20. I agree that we all need to get together in a sane way to stop terrorism...

none of us have a very good track record on the issue so far.

The Israelis have handled some terrorism attacks on their soil well, some extremely badly.

'You ran over an American on purpose and thought that was fine.'

It is by no means proved that the bulldozer driver did that on purpose; but even if he did, it was not organized by the Israeli government or an organized group within Israel. In any case, it has nothing to do with the Mumbai attack.

There were many people who died in the attack. As regards 'making everything worse in the tradition of GW Bush', I am particularly worried about the possibility of worsening relations, or worse, between India and Pakistan.

[bemildred]

10. Oh good.

:popcorn::popcorn:

[IndianaGreen]

11. Israel may have more than a point here. Eyewitness account shows police did not fire on attackers.

But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. "There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything," he said. "At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back."

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/mumbai-photographer-i-wish-id-had-a-gun-not-a-camera-armed-police-would-not-fire-back-14086308.html

[Pavulon]

12. They do not have a HRT on standby

india is 3rd world. They do not have the same resources as we do. Israel has resources to train people to respond. Like the germans response to munich india did their best. GSG9 was the result.

We have people who are trained to respond. But consider an attack in somewhere like tampa or orlando. They do not have local resources and would have to rely of people flying in.

That is the reality of it.

[cosmicone]

13. The hostages were already dead. Waiting wouldn't have

saved them.

[Phx_Dem]

15. No but a better coordinated response by the Indian authorities

could have minimized the risk to their responders.


I think it's too early to evaluate the Indian authorities response but it sounds like the Israeli security experts are correct in their assessment.

[bemildred]

16. They sound like arrogant, hip-shooting blowhards to me.

And in any case lousy diplomats.
But your mileage may vary.

[Scurrilous]

19. Israel praises Indian rescue efforts

Foreign Ministry denies reports that it criticized Indian commando operation during Chabad center standoff in Mumbai. Prime Minister Olmert says government never considered sending forces to back 'trained, proficient' Indian army

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3630857,00.html

<snip>

"As internal criticism of what was viewed as the poor intelligence and security handling of the Mumbai terror attacks continued to rise, Israel decided to send a forensics team along with Defense Ministry and Shin Bet representatives to assist the Indian authorities.

A Foreign Ministry announcement published Sunday said, "The Foreign Ministry denies any and all publications stating that Israel has criticized Indian commando activity in the freeing of the Chabad center."

Yossi Levy, the Foreign Ministry's spokesperson for domestic media, stressed that "from the very beginning, the Indians cooperated with Israel on the most senior levels, including intelligence information and any aid that Israel requested".

Levy went on to say that Israel was "convinced that the Indian forces did everything in their power to avoid harming the captives and civilians during the storming of the Chabad house."

[Name removed]

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