Correct. Everything you wrote about is true.

If we don't help ourselves, who will?

Yet 80% of American Jews voted for the appeaser Obama and his band of anti-Israel advisers. We'll now hear the drumbeats to quickly "settle" the Mideast and placate the Muslims by giving back and giving everything to the Arabs and jihadists and effectively let Israel commit national suicide.

And now I worry about this country. Say whatever one will about Bush, we managed to have no more attacks these past 8 years. But he will get no credit for it.

But we're more worried about gay and abortion rights, about multiculturist and PC nonsense like taking "Christmas" out of the public square, than we are about our own survival as Jews. I'm sorry for those who do care about those topics, but they should not be our primary goals at this time.

Good piece.

However, it is clear that in addition to going Jew-hunting (and that is absolutely an appropriate term), they also hunted for quite a bit more: Americans, British, and the Indian police, not to mention the other innocents caught in the cross-fire.

So when you say that the long arm of Jewish vengeance must be felt in every corner of the world—or no Jew will ever be safe, I heartily agree.

I just want the Americans, British, Indians and others around the world to join with the Jews. Israelis are not the only targets - we all are. And when we condemn Israel for going after these terrorists, we ultimately condemn ourselves.

My heart goes out to the beautiful Gabriel and Holtzberg families, the Scherr family in Virginia, and the hundreds of families in the U.K. and India who will never be the same again.

Deana

I'm too shocked and saddened and disgusted to think of anything coherent to add, but I agree with everything you said.

Baruch dayan emet.

The murdering terrorists also attacked a hospital for women and children.

Is there any hope that Omert's successor will be better? What happened to the Israel that, after the 1972 Olympic massacres, when hunting for the terrorists?

I had not heard that about the Masai but something I learned from them during a visit in 1983 stayed with me.

A young Masai's coming of age ritual, a Masai bar Mitzvah, if you will, includes going out armed only with a spear to kill a lion. Either the young man comes back or he doesn't.

Well, well. It appears that British citizens may have been among the attackers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3533075/Mumbai-attack-British-men-among-the-terrorists-Bombay-India.html

Robert - I agree with you 1,000,000%.

What a terrible tragedy. I am completely sick about it.

Mark

Thank you for this post. We must hunt all Islamo Nazis down. If they are busy looking over their shoulders for us they won't have time to attack.

Kishke, yes, there were British passport holders who were Pakistani among the terrorists. Britain is growing these snakes in its midst, but has tried to placate and appease them, even as they march with their signs to kill Jews and take over the West for Islam

Sharia law is now allowed as a legit alternative to British law (in contradistinction to Jewish law, which operates quite differently); Britain is far down the path of dhimmitude.

We need to avoid doing the same thing here, before it's too late.

Thank God their child is alive. They will live on in him. They sound like such beautiful people. To put aside luxury and materialism, to devote yourself to the spiritual welfare of your community- there is nothing greater a person can do.

Maurice:

The Bush Administration has kept the American homeland safe for 7 years. This is amazing. In India, the present govt. has cut back on budget for special counter-terrorist forces and they have cozied up to all sorts of unsavory characters in Pakistan in the delusional belief that talking and appeasement will bring, y'know, kumbaya. Well, this is the inevitable result.

Deana:

No argument from me. They went after Americans and Brits as allies in Iraq, and a hospital and bystanders because they are soft targets. But they went after Jews because they are Jewish. This is unique and should put the world on notice that when Jews are murdered for being Jewish, well, no one is safe for Jews are the canary in the coal mine of civilization.

Thanks so much for the comment.

Fern:

Thanks so much for the comment. I'm looking forward to Shabbos and unleashing myself from all media.

Shira:

Yes, the hospital. See my comment above to Deana.

Bill:

I just spoke to my son-in-law and he said: “The worst thing about this whole thing is that nothing will happen.”

I really hope he's wrong, but I'm afraid he's probably right.

Which leads us to Iran.

Kishke:

I'm shocked, truly shocked. British Muslims among the Islamo Nazis?

The next thing you know the Archbishop of Canterbury will call for the recognition of Sharia in Britain.

Mark:

If you'll forgive the fine point of language: it's an atrocity, not a tragedy. Ariel ZT'L, pointed this out to me when newscasters kept calling 9-11 a tragedy. Thanks so much for dropping in. Have a Good Shabbos.

Norm:

No battle is won while constantly fighting a defensive action. Israel must go on the offense against Islamo Nazis and their state supporters. They must never sleep in the same bed. Their families must live in fear that their homes will be bombed. Their villages and cities must be on notice that if they give shelter to Jew killers they will be turned to ashes.

Alice:

I'm friends with several Lubavitch Hasidim in my neighborhood and they are just lovely, dedicated people.

I am sick with grief and fury.

Hi Robert –

I guess I don’t see or maybe understand the difference between killing someone because they are Jewish and killing someone because they are American or British.

I completely agree that these animals went after Rabbi Gavriel and his wife because they are Jewish but I think they went to the center because of its association with Jews AND Israel. I don’t think Muslims “just” hate Jews. I think they hate Israel’s existence, power and influence. They hate Israeli policies, they hate how Israelis live, they hate how Israelis work and are successful and have an elected and responsive political process – all of which make the Muslims realize how backward and failure-prone their countries are. They hate the very idea of Israel!

But these animals also went after American and British citizens. They searched for them and targeted them, just like the Jews. But I don’t think they were motivated to go after the Americans and British just because they are allies in Iraq. I think they went after them because they hate our existence, our power and influence. They hate our policies, they hate how we work and are successful and have an elected and responsive political process . . . etc.

Over at PowerLine, one commentator (Barry Shaw from Israel) remarks that the British and Americans were selected because they were foreigners. But if being foreign was all that these murderers were interested in, wouldn’t we have seen Chinese, Egyptian, Russian, and people from other countries targeted?

In my opinion, the “unique” part of this is that the Israelis and Jews around the world have lost a much, much greater percentage of their people to Muslim terror than any other people on the face of the earth. They have been fighting this and putting up with this longer and with much more devastating consequences than any other people. And how they maintain their restraint is utterly beyond my comprehension.

Anyway . . . please understand – I am not trying to diminish the atrocity of what happened at the Chabad House (and thank you for clarifying that this was an atrocity – earthquakes and floods are tragedies – murder is an atrocity). I am just not able to perceive a distinction between the two. Maybe I’m missing something??

Thank you.

Deana

Correct in every regard. I fail to understand how Israel's political class can survive with its recent record of incompetence and cowardice.

This has long ago metastasized past response, even your 100-1 response.
I expect the true significance of the American Jewish vote for Obama is quite like Peter's three denials of Jesus. They will talk some version of the old game, but when it comes down to it, they don't know you anymore.

Israel, America's ally and friend. I stand with you against the barbarians. I'm sorry more of Americans don't (vocally, anyway).

Robert, I agree with you completely, and more if it were possible.

I too am sick and furious about this.

I -- and the world over -- was disturbed by these tragic events. Even on Shabbat, I couldn't truly rest.

I really felt the impact when I drove home mid-afternoon on Friday past a local neon sign that Chabad Lubavitch uses continuously (except on Shabbos/Yom Tov) to announce davening/candlelighting times and events. The sign was dark. Just as all our hearts were...and are.

I mourn with you, also, Robert.

Deana:

You ask and bring up very important questions about Jew hatred among Muslim terrorists. Here's the Hamas Covenant,which is representative of the Caliphite Muslim transnational terrorist movement. Read it carefully and prepare yourself for one of the most vicious Jew-hating documents ever enshrined by a modern political-religious movement. BTW, parts are lifted from the notorious Tzarist forgeries: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

It might seem loony to Western sensibilities, but it's taken very seriously in the Arab Muslim world. After all Hamas won the Pali elections not only in Gaza but in Judea and Samaria.

Thanks so much for writing.

Let's get to the nitty gritty. Call me an extremist if you like, but aside from the long arm of Jewish vengeance being felt in every corner of the globe maybe the Americans, Brits, Aussies and anyone else targeted by the muslims should be joining forces and hunting these guys down with ruthlessness and no remorse. State publicly any attack on any of our citizens shall be dealt with harshly, quickly and with no pity. Play their game too, hunt down those responsible and their families.

Let them know, you take out one of ours, we will take out every one of yours we find. They used to call that the Chicago way, but not that we have gone and collectively become drooling morons I am not sure we have a good name for it any more.

robert your comments were exactly 1000 correct. you stole my thoughts. the tragedy, atrocity, whatever you wanna call it, makes me cry, i don't know what to do. there has got to be an answer. maybe after the funeral i'll get it outta my system. it's interferening with my day. i get so sad. i wasn't even there. why is this affecting me so much?.....

I heard on the radio this morning that Israel is responding to the mortar attacks in the South, in one of which a soldier lost a leg and may lose the other one, by A) talking about an incursion into Gaza, and B) talking about releasing "Palestinian" prisoners to celebrate the Moslem feast of the sacrifice. We all know that if Israel goes into Gaza, all the people who ignore or make excuses for the mortar attacks will scream "war crime" and "genocide," and Israel will listen and pull out of Gaza, leaving Hamas stronger and more confident then ever. These people want Israel finished off. But, as I've said before, EUROPE, where a lot of these people live, is next on the Islamofascist hit list. When the Islamofascists start demanding France and Spain, none of the people who screamed "war criminal" when the JEWS made efforts to stay alive will be able to complain. If its a war crime, if its genocide, for JEWS in Israel to resist Arabs who want to slaughter them, then its a war crime, its genocide, if CHRISTIANS and ATHEISTS in Europe resist Arabs who want to slaughter them. Did it ever occur to anybody besides me that these people must be faking when they pretend to be moved by Anne Frank, may the al-mighty avenge her blood? They think any Jew who makes any effort to stay alive is a war criminal. Anne Frank, may the al-mighty avenge her blood, was a Jew who made an effort to stay alive. Doesn't that make her, in their eyes, a war criminal?

I read in JPost that the surviving terrorist said that two of his colleagues actually stayed at the Chabad House under the guise of Malaysian students to familiarize themselves with the place.

Kender is right. Muslims don't fear Jews in the diaspora, and never have. We don't threaten to cut their body parts off. We don't threaten to kill them and their families. We subscribe to the belief that civilized behaviour, even toward our bitterest enemies is a "good" thing.

Israelis, at one time, inspired fear within the Muslim/Arab world. They no longer do. Hatred, contempt - yes. Fear - not so much. Muslims/Arabs know that Israel constrains herself militarily, due to a misplaced desire to be respected by the non-Jewish world. It's self-defeating, as the best we can ever hope for are temporary lulls in the hostility.

The late Rabbi Kahane was right. The Russians and Chinese have learned this lesson. It's probably too late for Jews and other Westerners to learn it.

Here's a piece regarding the ineffectuality (cowardice?) of the Indian police:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article14086308.ece

Hi Mr. Avrech -

I just read the Hamas Covenant. I wish more people appreciated the long-term planning and thinking that these people utilize. They are not planning for the next 10-20 years - they are planning for eternity. And that gives them this terrible resilience.

I feel that we are in this for the long run. It scares me. Vast portions of the populations in U.S., Europe, India, and perhaps even Israel seem to be up for the fight.

I mean, there seems to be this idea that part of the price of existing these days is "putting up with" these attacks from time to time - with no appreciation of their actual cost OR recognition that eventually, these animals may choose bigger weapons.

Why don't people see the difference between us (and by "us", I mean Americans, Israelis, Europeans, Indians, Australians, and so many others) and Muslims? For example: every picture I've seen of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg is one of light and not darkness, smiles and not faces contorted with hate, warmth not anger, open arms and not fists raised with weapons.

Every image of them is one that draws you in and makes you feel whole. And welcomed.

I want that spirit to continue and thrive in this world. If that means that one is shunned for speaking about the need to support very aggressive, offensive efforts against the ideology that gives birth to these wretched people and forces, that is ok. It's a small, small price to pay when one considers what so many innocents have already paid.

Deana

Israel has its current government because a significant amount of its voting population thinks that giving up really is an option. There are some on the Israeli Left who still probably think they can achieve greatness with a little "more love" or some such nonsense, but my real impression is that a lot of Israelis are tired of the struggle. Of course, "tired" is a relative term. This current generation of Israelis has it so much better than their ancestors in most cases, so maybe they've been coddled too much in some way. Maybe they see moving to America or somewhere in Europe as more of a viable option than their parents and grandparents and figure they have that safety valve. What they are forgetting is that other parts of the world will be much, much more dangerous for Jews if Israel goes away.

I know, I know, it's easy for a comfortable American like me to say... but I also know I'm willing to do what I can to encourage Israelis to stay in the fight. If that means donating more money or more time, or whatever else I can, I am surely willing to do that.

I also agree with those noticing the demonizing effect going on vis a vis the Lubavitch victims. Can I be honest and say a lot of what CHABAD does bothers me too? Can I also be honest and say that has NOTHING TO DO with why these people were murdered and any little internal problems non-Hasidic Jews like me have with Lubavitch are not important at all now? I know we have very intense internal Jewish rivalries, but when it comes to the point where some of us excuse the murders of our fellow Jews, well we've gone too far.

And this is from the brilliant Mark Steyn:

"It's missing the point to get into debates about whether this is the "Deccan Mujahideen" or the ISI or al-Qaida or Lashkar-e-Taiba. That's a reductive argument. It could be all or none of them. The ideology has been so successfully seeded around the world that nobody needs a memo from corporate HQ to act: There are so many of these subgroups and individuals that they intersect across the planet in a million different ways. It's not the Cold War, with a small network of deep sleepers being directly controlled by Moscow. There are no membership cards, only an ideology. That's what has radicalized hitherto moderate Muslim communities from Indonesia to the central Asian 'stans to Yorkshire, and co-opted what started out as more or less conventional nationalist struggles in the Caucasus and the Balkans into mere tentacles of the global jihad.

Many of us, including the incoming Obama administration, look at this as a law-enforcement matter. Mumbai is a crime scene, so let's surround the perimeter with yellow police tape, send in the forensics squad, and then wait for the D.A. to file charges.

There was a photograph that appeared in many of the British papers, taken by a Reuters man and captioned by the news agency as follows: "A suspected gunman walks outside the premises of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or Victoria Terminus railway station." The photo of the "suspected gunman" showed a man holding a gun. We don't know much about him — he might be Muslim or Episcopalian, he might be an impoverished uneducated victim of Western colonialist economic oppression or a former vice-president of Lehman Brothers embarking on an exciting midlife career change — but one thing we ought to be able to say for certain is that a man pointing a gun is not a "suspected gunman" but a gunman. "This kind of silly political correctness infects reporters and news services worldwide," wrote John Hinderaker of Powerline. "They think they're being scrupulous — the man hasn't been convicted of being a gunman yet! — when, in fact, they're just being foolish. But the irrational conviction that nothing can be known unless it has been determined by a court and jury isn't just silly, it's dangerous."

Just so. This isn't law enforcement but an ideological assault — and we're fighting the symptoms not the cause. Islamic imperialists want an Islamic society, not just in Palestine and Kashmir but in the Netherlands and Britain, too. Their chances of getting it will be determined by the ideology's advance among the general Muslim population, and the general Muslim population's demographic advance among everybody else."

Law enforcement? How stupid is that?

Someone once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Law enforcement has not deterred terrorists. Killing them has.

When the U.S. went to war against AlQaeda the U.S. began hunting them down in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the villages of Iraq.

The terrorists want to kill Americans but have not been able to do so in the U.S. The terrorists have to go where the law enforcement approach is used if they want to kill us. But those that treat terrorists as the enemy in a war will take the war to them.

Hunt them down and kill them. And as far as I am concerned, do it preemptively.

Deana:

Thanks so much for taking the time to read the Hamas Covenant.

You are absolutely correct in understanding that the Islamo Nazis have the long view. They always have.

Let's be clear: Islam is and always has been a violent and imperial religion, in a perpetual war against those who are not Muslim.

That is a central pillar of Islam.

If you deny this you are a fool or simply ignorant.

We in America get all kvetchy after a few years in Iraq. The Muslims laugh at us for we approach war as if we're on line at a fast food joint.

They are planning for eternity. We are planning for the next elections.

Guess who eventually emerges triumphant in such a struggle?

Does Obama get it?

I'm worried. His embrace of the U.N. is a very bad sign. It's a pool of Jew-hating filth and should be ignored, if not closed.

Samantha Powers is back on board and she's very bad news, a chattering leftist academic who always blames America and Israel first.

Only time will tell.

Tammuz:

To treat terrorism as a "criminal matter" is quite simply, suicidal.

In criminal matters you act after the crime. After the bodies have piled up, after the death count. That was the policy of Bill Clinton. It led directly to 9-11.

No, in fighting terrorism, the state has to go on the offensive and act pre-emtively. Destroy their training grounds. Bomb terror states that support trans-national terrorism. Targeted assassinations all across the globe. Choke off, ahem, Muslim charities. Tighten borders. Zero tolerance for sedition. No Sharia in any form. This is the only way to defeat the monster of Islamo Nazism.

The idols of multi-culturalism will destroy the west. As it is doing to England.

Vanderleun:

Israel is about to release 250 Palestinian terrorists from jail as a "gesture" to strengthen the PA.

Again. 'Cause this has worked so well in the past. When released prisoners just returned to their old jobs: killing Jews.

Nice move after Mumbai.

The terrorist world takes note and applauds the criminally stupid leaders of the Jewish State.

Michaelvegas:

It's getting to you because, as I said to Karen: "Evil is rampant in the world and we in the west seem more preoccupied with so-called global warming or gay marriage."

In short: fashion items.

Much easier and safer than confronting true evil; men and women who will chop off your head if you happen to get in their way.

James:

The 100-1 response was just a random number I picked form the air. I could just as easily go for 1,000 to 1, or heck 10,000 to 1.

Whatever it takes for the Islamo Nazis and their supporters to understand that we are just as serious as they are.

Mandk:

Thanks so much for your support. We appreciate it.

Rahel:

You write that you are: "Sick and furious."

Ditto. A thousand times.

Pearl:

One of my best friends here in LA is a Chabad Rabbi. We were talking on Shabbos and he wondered what it will take for American Jews to finally arm themselves — for we Jews are all targets for torture and murder, wherever we live.

Beth:

Thanks so much. Always good to hear from you.

Kender:

Nothing extreme about your view. In the real world it's called common sense.

Miranda:

Europe. What can we say? They were, in most cases, enablers of Nazi genocide in WW II. After the war, they kind of hid their Jew-hatred for a while, but then let it blossom in their hatred for Israel, the Jewish State, under the guise of "mere anti-Zionism."

Look, England is almost finished. They are in the middle of trading their productive and loyal Jewish citizens for on-the-dole, sharia yearning, seditious Islamist rabble.

That's what you get when you have a media that refuses to ever use the term "Islamic terrorism."

That's what you get when you blame Israel for every ill in the backward and the barbaric Jew-hating Arab world.

Kishke:

I'm sure that there was a great deal of adavnce work done by the Islamo Nazis to set up the Mumbai massacres. And it was a lot more than ten men who were on the ground. There had to be a support infrastructure in Mumbai. This was a complex operation.

The only surprising thing about it is how unsurprising it is.

Hugh:

Hope you're wrong. Hope it's not too late.

Jake:

A few years ago, before the Gaza expulsion, I was debating with a leftist Israeli friend the wisdom of this move. Here's how it went, generally:

Me: Do you really think that expelling 10,000 Jews form their homes and creating a Judenrein Gaza will create peace with the Arabs?

Leftie: No, but it will make things better.

Me: I believe it will make things worse. Much worse.

Has this Israeli leftist ever admitted that he was wrong?

No, he has not.

And now he's an enthusiastic supporter of dividing Jerusalem and expelling Jews from Judea and Samaria.

Karen says: "Most Israeli leftists are mentally ill."

At first I thought she was just being, y'know, cute.

But then I looked into her eyes and realized that she was making a dead serious clinical diagnosis.

There is no other explanation for such detachment from reality.

Robert, I appreciate your concerns about the commando's firing stance in that photo. I was watching Indian tv during the entire seige, and that scene was replayed many times. If you could see the whole video, it's clear he was shooting at a wall across the gap, not into a window. On subsequent viewings, it looked very much to me that he was taking out the electricity meter to cut the power.

I knew that after it was all over, this picture of the one-handed, over-the-head firing stance would be picked up somewhere to make the Indian forces look inept (I'm not Indian, by the way). Western Standard has now picked up the same idea from this article too (they have no comments section).

I understand that the victims inside Nariman House were found tied up, and were likely executed almost immediately (probably after some torture). So far, I've seen no information leading to the conclusion that any hostages were killed by the Indian commandos. There's just no way they would be doing what this picture implies - spraying bullets randomly into the house.

The commando sprayed a short burst at *something* mounted on the outside wall of the building. Then he let off two or three more single shots, until he looked like he had succeeded in his purpose (I believe it was to take out the power), and then he withdrew from that position.

My deepest condolences for all who were murdered at Nariman House, the Taj, the Oberoi, Leopold's and Victoria Station. And my deepest best wishes for little Moshe, that he'll eventually recover from this horror and grow up to be a good, strong man for whom his parents would be proud.

I am an Indian living in the US. I watched the live telecast of the Mumbai Terror on TV with horror, anger, helplessness and anguish. From what I have learnt from my friends in India about what happened at the Nariman House is beyond belief. Children cut into pieces, young girls (4 yr olds) raped and murdered, women raped and then shot inside their private parts with AK-47s. The doctors who saw the scene of crime and conducted autopsies claimed that they had never seen something so horrific.

I firmly believe that the most natural alliance in the world is that of the Israel, India and the United States. These three are the sworn enemies of the Islamist Jihadists. I also think that the powers that be in these countries do realize this and there is an unprecedented cooperation between Israel and India on security and terrorism related matters which augurs well for India and we can learn a lot from Israel on counter-terrorism strategies.

Also whoever believes that we can deal with these terrorists through dialogue is delusional. I also think that we, the common people, need do something than just express feelings of anger and grief at every terrorist atrocity and then simply move on. Wake up people, we are just unable to see a focused enemy with a singular objective to destroy us and our way of life. They are hitting us everywhere: in Israel,India, US, UK, and elsewhere. I propose that people who are moved by these incidents and want to do something about it form an organization for debating ideas, raising funds and forming a militant wing of the militant organization which will add "strategic depth" to the defense of our respective nations by committing counter-terrorism activity upon the enemy.

I know that a lot of people hate George Bush and his policies in the last 8 years but I am positive that history will judge him more kindly for protecting his nation ably and taking the fight to the enemy. Faced with a dedicated enemy preemption is the only choice. We have to tell these killers that they do not have a copyright on violence and that we can and will reply with unequal force.