Was the Mumbai Chabad targeted in terror attacks?

Rabbi Holtzberg with son Moshe

I’ve yet to hear any official report and statement claiming that the Chabad house in Mumbai was specifically targeted because it was a beacon of Jewish life in a country with all of 10,000 Jews. But the motive behind why the terrorists attacks that building, among many frequented by Westerners, is no mystery:

“A young family, doing work for Klal Yisroel—and they were killed because they were Jewish. There wasn’t any other reason,” an L.A. Jewish woman told me yesterday at the Chabad memorial service.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmer concurred yesterday, saying the attacks unquestionably targeted the Jewish center:

In a statement released after the attacks, Olmert also said that symbols of Israeli and Jews motivate murder worldwide. “The hatred of Jews, the State of Israel and Jewish symbols are still a factor that spurs and encourages such murderous acts.”

Olmert said the images from the Mumbai Chabad House, including pictures of the murdered victims wrapped in prayer shawls “are shocking and take us back to events that we pray never recur.”

Footage of Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, speaking at the Chabad memorial is after the jump: