.jpg)
.jpg)
Mumbai: Moshe Holtzberg, 11, who lost his parents in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and now lives in Israel, will this week return to the site of the tragedy for the first time.
Moshe was two years old when his parents, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivika, were killed by Pakistani gunmen during the siege of Nariman House in November 2008. The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement from the building in Colaba.
Moshe's grandfather Shimon Rosenberg said he and his wife would accompany their grandson to Mumbai on Tuesday. "We are all very excited to visit India," Rosenberg said from Israel.
On Friday, "Moshe will fly back to Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu", whose India visit began on Sunday.
Also accompanying Moshe will be Sandra Samuels, the Indian nanny who saved him during the terror attack that killed 166 people over three days. Samuels was awarded an honorary citizenship by Israel so she could live in that country with Moshe.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Moshe and his grandparents during his Israel trip last July and told him he could visit India anytime.
Moshe had told Modi: "I remember our connection to Nariman House. I hope I will be able to visit Mumbai and when I get older, live there."
He had added: "Dear Mr Modi, I love you and the people in India."
Rosenberg has requested the Indian ambassador to Israel that Nariman House be registered as belonging to Moshe.
Memorial
Moshe's visit comes at a time Nariman House is being converted into a "living memorial" to the 26/11 victims, eight of whom were killed there.
The memorial, being set up by Jewish organisation Chabad-Lubavitch, will be formally announced on Thursday during a visit by Netanyahu (and Moshe), Rabbi Israel Kozolovasky, who now heads Nariman House, said.
Kozolovasky said Moshe also wanted to see the Gateway of India during his visit.
"Moshe definitely has a huge emotional bond with India and Mumbai. Nariman House was the place where he got the last hug from his mother and the last kiss from his father," he said.
"This was the place where he last heard their voices. This boy has become one of the faces of the 26/11 attack. We all are excited about his visit."
Kozolovasky said the memorial would include the apartment where the Holtzbergs lived and the sites where the killings happened. The terrace will be turned into a garden where the names of all the victims will be engraved.
"On the terrace, much remembered by people around the world for the images of a helicopter hovering around and the NSG commandos landing (during the terror attack), there will be a reflection garden that will focus on and recognise all the victims of 26/11," he said. PTI