Jewish community feels safe in city, says Rabbi Kupchik's wife Rachel after LeT operative's revelation in Chicago court that he recced Chabad House

"The Jewish community is safe in the city and we are not afraid of any Headleys. We are facing more severe threats across the world at the hands of actual perpetrators," said Rachel Kupchik, wife of the Rabbi Betzalel Kupchik, the religious head of the Jews. She was reacting to the revelation by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley alias Dawood Gilani in a Chicago court that he had conducted a recce of the Chabad House in the city.


Thank you, police: Rachel Kupchik says the city police are very helpful
and take utmost care of their security. File pic

In his testimony, Headley told the court yesterday that he had conducted recce of the religious and cultural centre of the Jews in the city, Delhi and Pushkar as potential targets for terror attacks. Headley also confessed to having conducted surveillance of the German Bakery that was later bombed on February 13 last year. He said he had undertaken the surveillance as a part of the LeT's 'Karachi project'.

Rachel does not remember seeing Headley in Chabad House. "Israelis are taught in their early years to be very alert and attentive towards suspicious objects and people. When I first came to India 11 years ago, I used to laugh at people here because they were very relaxed and didn't even bother about bags lying unattended at public places. But later I realised that India is a safe place and being relaxed is quite normal here. That could be the reason why people like Headley may have just walked into the Chabad House too without us realising the threat," she said.

Even after the German Bakery blast, the security scenario still remains the same. She said Jews were very safe in the city, although they do take some extra precaution. "We get calls from the Israel embassy often, asking us about security measures, but we assure them that the Pune police are very helpful and are taking utmost care of our security," she said.u00a0 "I travel in all parts of the city, meet different people, including those from the Muslim community. I never felt they were enemies. Since the local people are not anti-semitic we will never feel insecure in the country or go away. If the Pune police hadn't provided us the security and instead asked us to go away, it would have been like handing over a victory to the terrorists. We will never give them that opportunity."