PM Modi meets Mumbai attack survivor Moshe, his Indian Nanny Sandra in Israel

TEL AVIV: In a special gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met Moshe Holtzberg, the Israeli child who was just two years old when he lost his parents in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. Modi's decision to meet 26/11 survivor Moshe, now 11, along his grandparents was an emotional moment for the family. Sandra Samuels, the brave Indian nanny who saved Moshe Holtzberg (11) during the terror attack, feels Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to meet her along with the boy during his visit here indicates that the government cares for the victims. Sandra, who was awarded a honourary citizenship by the Government of Israel so that she could live in the country and be with Moshe, continues to share a unique bonding with the boy, who is now 10-year-old. With Moshe, his grandparents and Sandra - an Indian Jew - are also expected to meet Modi in Jerusalem. The meeting with Moshe and Sandra is aimed at emphasising a key bond that binds India and Israel - they are both targets of terrorism from their neighbourhood. Moshe was barely two years old when his parents Rivka and Gavriel Holtzberg, serving as emissaries of Chabad in Mumbai, were killed along with six others by LeT terrorists at the Nariman House, also popularly known as Chabad House. "I could not believe it when Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg (Moshe's grandfather) told me that we have been invited to meet PM Modi. It's a huge honour and comes as a pleasant surprise. I am deeply touched. Its a clear indication that the Indian government cares for the victims of 26/11 terror attack," she told newsagency PTI. "He means much more than two of my own sons. Moshe is the reason I am here in Israel. I work in Jerusalem but rush over the weekend to be with him. We also talk quite often during the week. I cannot really describe our relationship," says the nanny. Sandra's heart wrenching picture holding Moshe close to her chest immediately after escaping the terror attack site is still imprinted on everybody's mind. She had hoodwinked gunmen and ran out of the Jewish centre on the fateful night. Her two sons, Martin and Jackson, 34 and 26 respectively, live in Mumbai. "I went to India once a year during the first four years of my stay in Israel. In the last few years, I could not manage to go (to India) every year," Sandra, who works with ALEH organisation that deals with young boys with special needs in Jerusalem, says. The nanny has been all praises for Israelis who she says have "treated her with a lot of respect" and especially the Rosenberg family, Moshe's grandparents, who she says "have looked after her as one of their own". "However, it is Moshe who means the world to me," she emphasises. "I go to see him every Saturday evening and spend Sundays playing with him and taking him out for ice cream and pizzas. I wait the whole week for his warm hug," she adds. (With additional information from PTI)