New Delhi: Israel on Tuesday, November 21, announced that it has banned the Laskhar-e-Taiba as a terror organisation 15 years after the Mumbai terror attack, during which terrorists specifically targeted a Jewish centre in India’s commercial capital.
A press release issued by Israeli embassy said Tel Aviv had listed Lashkar-e-Taiba as a “terror organisation” to mark the “15th year of commemoration of the Mumbai terror attacks”.
Ten members of the LeT terror group had entered the city of Mumbai on the night of November 26, 2008. Over the course of four days, they killed 166 people and injured 300. One of the locations targeted by the terrorist was a Chabad centre at Nariman House. Four Israeli citizens were killed in the attacks.
“Despite not being requested by the Government of India to do so, the state of Israel has formally completed all necessary procedures and has satisfied all required checks and regulations to the result of introducing Lashkar-e-Taiba into the Israeli list of illegal terror organisations,” said the press note.
The embassy stated that the Israel “only lists terror organisations who are actively operating against it from within or around its borders, or in a similar manner to India – those globally recognised by UNSC or the US state department”.
The LeT had been listed as a terror group by the UN Security Council’s panel in 2005. The US state department had designated LeT even earlier in 2001.
The press readout noted that the Israeli ministries of defence and foreign affairs “jointly worked in the last few months towards an expedited and extraordinary listing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba organization on this date, to highlight the importance of a Unified Global Front in combating terrorism”.
Israel described the LeT as “deadly and reprehensible terror organization, responsible for the murder of hundreds of Indian civilians as well as others. Its heinous actions on November 26, 2008 still reverberate in force, through all peace seeking nations and societies”.
Following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon had asked India to declare the Palestinian group as a terror organisation.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had immediately expressed “solidarity” with Israel on October 7, which he reiterated in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. India had to nuance its position by speaking about its traditional support for Palestine a week later. However, India had one of the few countries in the Global South which abstained on the resolution in the UN General Assembly that called for a humanitarian pause to allow the supply of food, fuel and water into Gaza strip.