Jewish mother killed in Mumbai attacks "was pregnant..." and her son, 2, may have been beaten by militants

The Jewish mother murdered in the brutal Mumbai terror attacks last week was six month pregnant, her father revealed today at her funeral. And Rivkah Holtzberg's two-year-old son, Moshe, may have been beaten by the militants, reports have claimed. His back was covered in bruises consistent with abuse, the chairman of Zaka, Israel's ultraorthodox recovery service, told Sky News. Today Moshe's grandfather revealed that his daughter Rivkah had been six months pregnant as he gave a eulogy at her funeral. Rivka and her husband, Gabi, were buried in Israel along with four other victims of the attacks. Throngs of mourners today packed the funerals of the six victims, turning the narrow alleys of one Jerusalem neighborhood into a sea of black coats and hats. A huge crowd gathered outside the red-brick Israeli headquarters of the Chabad movement, whose emissary to Mumbai, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, was murdered along with his 28-year-old wife, Rivkah. Those in attendance included President Shimon Peres and a slew of other dignitaries. Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, a Chabad official from New York, delivered an impassioned eulogy, describing the young couple as dedicated people who would stop at nothing to help a fellow Jew.

"We will answer the terrorists," he vowed, his voice shaking. "We will not fight them with AK-47s. We will not fight them with grenades. We will not fight them with tanks."

"We will fight them with torches!" he cried, referring to God's teachings.

He pledged to rebuild the Mumbai center and name it after the Holtzbergs. Chabad operates thousands of such outreach centers around the world. Addressing the crowd, Peres called on the world to unite in the fight against terrorism. He singled out Iran, which supports anti-Israel militant groups and whose president has called for Israel's destruction.

"If the entire world doesn't join together as one man and say 'enough!,' then the world is in danger. This is a plague that is difficult to stop," he said.

The Holtzbergs' bodies, hers wrapped in a shroud and his in a prayer shawl, rested on chairs on the dais where the eulogies and prayers were delivered. There are already fears that Moshe witnessed his parents' murder after he was found by his nanny crying next to their bodies, covered in blood. She dashed him to safety before commandos launched an attack on the Jewish house in which the terrorists were holding the family hostage last week. In an emotional scene before the flight to Israel yesterday, Moshe repeatedly cried for his mother at a tearful memorial ceremony at a Mumbai synagogue. The scene was broadcast repeatedly on Israeli TV stations.

"You don't have a mother who will hug you and kiss you," Rabbi Kotlarsky cried out during a eulogy that switched back and forth between Hebrew and English.

"You are the child of all of Israel." he vowed to Moshe.

"Moshe has not slept in four days," the rabbi who found his father's body told The Times. "Now, the nanny, Sandra Samuel, is the only person that Moshe responds to." his family told Sky News.

Yesterday she and Moshe flew to Israel on the same plane that was carrying his parents' bodies. His family have asked her to stay and live in Israel as they struggle to come to terms with the trauma of the attack. In addition to Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's two chief rabbis were among the thousands who attended the nationally televised ceremony. Most of the people who came were bearded men in the black suits and black fedoras of Chabad members. Women gathered behind a yellow metal partition, in accordance with the Jewish custom of separating the sexes during prayer.

Personally, my heart cries for the people of Mumbai, the people of India, and the people of the world. It is evident that the heartless Muslim extremists will stop at nothing to kill the Jewish people, no matter how innocent the causalties.