Israel praises Indian rescue efforts

VIDEO - 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. "The relations between Israel and India are based on deep and joint understandings that have passed the test in these moments of crisis," he said. Indian army 'trained and proficient' Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also praised his counterparts in New Delhi and Mumbai, and at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting thanked the Indian authorities for their cooperation and care for the Jewish and Israeli hostages. Olmert also stressed that at no point did Israel consider sending its own troops to assist the "trained and proficient" Indian army. Video courtesy of Infolive.tv "The images of the Jewish victims and the horrific sight of the Chabad house managers wrapped in prayer shawls are shocking and take us back to images from history that we hoped wouldn't repeat themselves," Olmert said. "But it seems that the hatred of Jews and Israelis is what spurs these horrible deeds. "Last week marked one of the worse acts of terror ever to take place in India. These acts are the fruit of unrestrained extreme Islam, that is trying to sew death and destruction wherever it can." Regarding the investigation to take place over the next few days, Olmert said Israel has offered full cooperation and aid to the Indian government, and added that the Israeli government was "doing and will continue to do" whatever it takes to defense Jewish institutes around the world. Before the cabinet meeting, several ministers suggested providing further security to Chabad houses around the world. Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai said, "We must examine ways to defend and secure Chabad houses, were tens of thousands of sons of Israel enter and leave." Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim said, "Chabad has a responsibility towards Israelis that show up at its institutes around the world. The professional bodies in Israel should instruct the organization on what to do to protect them." Meanwhile, tensions were on the rise in the Indian sub-continent as some of the intelligence and security officials have reached their own conclusions and announced their resignation. Roni Sofer contributed to this report

Israel praises Indian rescue efforts

(Video) 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