Canadian Envoy Concludes Anti-Terror Trip With Visit to Mumbai Chabad House

Speaking from the site of Mumbai, India’s heavily-damaged Chabad-Lubavitch center six weeks after Islamist terrorists killed its six occupants, including directors Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, Canadian MP Jason Kenney said that the Nov. 26 attack should be a wake-up call to people around the world.

“It’s no accident that the terrorists chose to come to this location,” said Kenney, who as his country’s minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism wrapped up a week-long tour of the region with a stop in Mumbai. “The fact that people would come all the way to India to target a Jewish community center indicates the depth of hatred and evil, of anti-Semitism in the [garb] of Islamist terrorism.”

More than 170 people died in the attacks, which were concentrated at the Chabad House as well as area hotels and tourist hotspots. Kenney, who earlier in the week demanded of the Pakistan government its cooperation in the hunt for co-conspirators in the attacks, on Thursday signed a condolence book at the Taj Mahal Hotel.

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He also joined more than 100 people, including representatives of the Canadian and German consulates, for a Jan. 15 memorial ceremony at Mumbai’s historic Blue Synagogue.

Just before Shabbat, Kenney took part in a tour of the Chabad House arranged by the local Israeli consulate. Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical students and Canadian citizens Menachem Sputz and Mendel Kessler led the Conservative Party legislator through the corridors and floors where at least two terrorists holed up for nearly three days.

“This is truly devastating,” Kenney, said from the building’s roof. “This was a center of life, of practical charity, of teaching Divinity. In many ways, this was the center of Jewish life in the multicultural city that is Mumbai.”

Kenney, who represents Calgary, Alberta’s southeastern neighborhoods in parliament, noted that he maintains a warm relationship with Canada’s Jewish community in general, and its network of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in particular.

“I’m a great fan of Chabad’s work,” he said. “They help Jews be better Jews, and bring young Jews in particular to a better understanding and practice of their faith.

“The entire community should take strength from this disaster,” continued Kenney. “The [Holtzbergs’] sacrifice should be an inspiration for people to redouble their efforts.”