Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2009] DEFEAT, RAGE, AND JEW HATRED 131
the terrorists. There is, for example, no greater assertion of power by one
individual over another than the ability to take a life, especially when,
rightly or wrongly, the attacker is convinced that he or she has been injured
by the victim or what the victim represents. In preparation for the assault,
Kasab and his companions received months of training in the use of weapons
and explosives. They were also drilled in close-quarter combat. 108
When captured, Kasab told his interrogators, “I have no regrets. . .I have
done right.” 109 Kasab’s pride in his murders is typical of all of the Islamist
killers we examine here below. They feel no guilt. They are not reluctant to
confess when apprehended, for their confessions are in their eyes the record
of divinely sanctioned achievements. They dwell in an utterly alien moral
universe.
Most of the victims in Mumbai were attacked at random, simply
because they were not Muslim and happened to be unlucky enough to be at
a location the killers planned to assault, such as the Taj Mahal and Oberoi
hotels. There was, however, nothing random about the torture and murder
of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his pregnant wife Rivka, and four other Jews
who were at Nariman House, the Chabad community center in Mumbai.
Before the rampage, Mumbai’s Jewish population was estimated to be
about 4,000. 110 Nariman House was hidden away on a narrow, remote side
street. It was, however, as deliberately targeted as the five-star Taj Mahal
hotel. Kasab is reported to have told police that, in order to familiarize
themselves with the building, some of the terrorists disguised themselves as
Malaysian students and rented rooms at the Chabad center before the
attack. 111 If, as seems likely, Kasab’s testimony is reliable, the terrorists had
the information necessary to take over the Chabad center and its inhabitants
well in advance of the attack.
According to Kasab, the Chabad group was singled out “to avenge
atrocities on Palestinians.” 112 Like many other Muslims, Kasab believes
that Jews have no right to be in Palestine save as dhimmis under Muslim
domination. Hence, they consider any warlike act by Israel, defensive or
108. Matt Wade, “Captured terrorist reveals plot to kill up to 5,000,” The Age
(Australia), December 1, 2008, http://www.theage.com.au/world/captured-terroristreveals-plot-to-kill-up-to-5000-20081130-6nrv.html.
109. Wade, “Captured terrorist.”
110. Jeremy Kahn, “Jews of Mumbai, a Tiny and Eclectic Group, Suddenly
Reconsider Their Serene Existence,” New York Times, December 2, 2008, http://
www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/asia/03jews.html?fta=y.
111. “Mumbai locals helped us, terrorist tells cops,” The Times of India, November
30, 2008, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3774106,prt
page-1.cms.
112. Ibid.