It is now confirmed that the Islamic terrorists who attacked Mumbai on Thursday butchered all of their hostages in the Jewish center, including Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka. Whether they did this before Indian security stormed the building isn't known, but there's no reason to think the attackers were planning to keep them alive.
As Powerline reader Barry Shaw points out:
From the start British and American coverage concentrated on the hotels with stress of the targeting of British and Americans. The Jewish target was ignored until day two and day three. The two luxury hotels were selected by the terrorists because they are occupied by tourists. People who escaped from the hotels claimed that the terrorists asked for British and Americans. However, they were selected because they were foreigners.Nariman House was selected by the terrorists because the Chabad building was a specific Jewish target that also included Israelis. Let me make this clear. Chabad House was the only target chosen by the terrorists in Mumbai because of its specific character - Jewish and Israeli. Hostages in Chabad House were killed because they were Jewish and Israeli.
Yet this terror venue was largely ignored by most of the Western media until the final day.
In a longer piece assessing Pakistan's role over the years, over at her PajamasMedia gig, the Rocky's Bridget Johnson doesn't miss the point:
Out of the longstanding tussle for Kashmir, Pakistan unleashed the evil likely responsible for storming through the streets of Mumbai, breaking into hospitals to shoot patients, spewing gunfire on train commuters, and attacking any location where Westerners and Jews may be -- after all, why should the jihad stop at India?
The media's mischaracterization of the nature of the enemy serious colors our perception of this war. I was on the phone yesterday with a relative, conveying Thanksgiving best wishes, when the subject of the attack on the Nariman House came up. This person, Jewish, politically aware, usually centrist but who voted for McCain largely on security issues, said that it wasn't as though the terrorists' attack on the Nariman House had anything to do with their being Jewish. That the attack was just because they were western. This person ought to have known better, but because most people don't notice things that aren't pointed out, I had to work to convince them otherwise.
As for the Indians storming the buildings, I suspect the lives of the hostages were forfeit, anyway. If ever in the unfortunate situation of being in a building seized by Islamist terrorists, it would make sense, therefore, to act accordingly.