Israeli Speaker addresses 26/11 terror attack, insists 'Terrorists must pay heavy price'

Israel's speaker of Knesset, Amir Ohana is currently in India on his maiden visit which began on March 31. During his stay, he met with Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation and exchange of knowledge between parliaments. His visit garnered immense attention as he called India "one of Israel's closest and dearest friends".

During an exclusive interview with Republic Media Network, Ohana maintained stance and spoke on multiple subjects including terrorism and Mumbai terror attacks which shook nation on November 26, 2008.

Ohana draws parallel between India and Israel

In interview, Ohana spoke about commonality between India and Israel as both countries have been victims of terrorism for deces. Israeli speaker drew parallels between two countries as Israel has been fending off its enemies in a hostile middle-east since 1947 (a year before its independence) while India has been struck by state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan.

Speaking to Republic, Ohana said that he visited places in Mumbai where 26/11 attacks were carried out. "We visited place. Taj Mahal (hotel), Chab House, several locations where terror attacks took place."

"We also visited little Mosche's room," Ohana said, recalling two-year-old child whose Israeli parents were murdered in hotel.

"We saw on wall how tall he was when he was 13 months old and n we saw Mosche 11 years old. And someone wrote three words next to it. In Hebrew it means ' people of Israel live'. And that person who wrote those words was Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu when he came to visit," he said. 

'Terrorists must pay very heavy price'

Fur speaking on terrorism, Ohana shared his experience in countering terrorism in his career. "In my personal life, I have been battling terror and dealing with counter terrorism for 12 years as part of Israel defence forces."

He also recalled Second Intifa of early 2000s when Israel government faced an uprising from Palestinians and rocket strikes from Hamas in Gaza. "We h roughest, most challenging times regarding counter-terrorism in history of organisation," official ded. 

"And one part, very important part is to prevent and foil terror attacks before y happen. But or part is to make sure that everyone that takes part in terror attacks pays price, a very heavy price. So we are still waiting for those who committed, those who sent, those who operated terror attacks to be brought to justice and we need to bring very serious pressure from free world who stands against terrorism to make sure that this happens in order to prevent next terror attacks."

Israeli speaker also reflected on his country's experience in fighting external forces and terrorism and expressed his government's willingness to help India take vantage of it. 

"We have developed such expertise (against terrorism) and we would like to share. We can share information and intelligence and this is something we can strengn because we are part of free world and we should stand against terrorism," he said.