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Chabad center following attack
Photo: AP

All Israelis missing in India located

Last Israeli defined as missing person following Mumbai terror offensive has contacted his family, Foreign Ministry says; six Jews murdered at Chabad center

The last Israeli defined as a missing person following the terror offensive in the Indian city of Mumbai has contacted his family, the Foreign Ministry said Monday morning.

 

The Israeli national was not in the Mumbai area and was unaware of the grave events that took place in the city last week.

 

The Foreign Ministry initially feared for the lives of 17 Israelis, most of whom were located shortly afterwards.

 

On Sunday, the search was still on for Amir Efrati, 26, of Tzur Hadassah, who was in Mumbai at the time of the murderous attack. This wasn't the first time his parents feared for his life following a disaster. Only last May they breathed with relief after their son was located safe and sound in Myanmar following the cyclone that hit the country.

 

Six Jews were murdered by terrorists at the local Chabad center: Emissaries Gavriel and Rivka Hotlzberg, kashrut supervisors Bentzion Chroman and Rabbi Leibish Teitlebaum, Yocheved Orpaz of Givatayim and Mexican citizen Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich.

 

The Ministerial Committee for Symbols and Ceremonies decided Sunday to recognize the Israeli victims of the Mumbai attack as terror victims. The decision will affect the victims' burial arrangements and the treatment of their families.

 

The decision was later sanctioned by the Ministry of Interior and the Defense Ministry.

 

Nevertheless, Shvarzblat Rabinovich, who was murdered just one day before making aliyah but was still a Mexican citizen at the time of her death, was excluded form the decision.

 

While the Foreign Ministry officially named her among the Israeli victims of the murderous attack, the National Insurance Institute of Israel (NII) said it will not offer her family the stipends allotted in such cases. The NII said it was simply "following the letter of the law."

 

Shvarzblat Rabinovich's son and daughter, who already immigrated to Israel, will have to rely on the Jewish Agency's Fund for Victims of Terror for financial assistance.

 

Norma, 50, was traveling across India for the past two months. She was supposed to fly to Israel on Monday to celebrate her son's 18th birthday.

 

Minister Jacob Edery, who heads the Ministerial Committee for Symbols and Ceremonies, said the situation was "unfortunate" and pledged to do everything in his power to help the family, should they seek his assistance.

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.01.08, 11:26
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