Why did the terrorists choose to attack, of all places, the Nariman House in Mumbai? It is a story that actually goes much deeper, and explores a territory that hasn't really been looked at in detail.

The Nariman House was a kind of dharamshala for travelling Israelis and also the home of Rabbi Holtzberg and his family. So, are we witnessing the globalisation of terror? Is it a genuine unity of cause or were the terrorists just playing with the sentiments of the people? Was there a larger agenda? Was there a message being sent out to the world?

Pakistani terrorists have been known to select prominent foreign targets within Pakistan -- just as the Mumbai terrorists did. But very few Pakistani terrorists have been known to have specifically targeted Israelis till Mumbai happened.

Richard Silverstein, an expert, makes the distinction between the Jews and the Israelis. He says that the one terrorist caught alive said that Nariman House was attacked to avenge the sufferings of the Palestinians. So, that was against Israel. Silverstein goes on to say that most Israelis wouldn't care, but the distinction is important.

The Nariman House siege was also important because it showed the ambitiousness of the terror plot. The terrorists sought not only to hurt the Hindus and the Indian government but also wanted to tell the world that they were trying to avenge their Palestinian brothers. Hence the Israeli target.

The killing of foreigners always brings with it even more global media attention in nations like India and Pakistan.

Silverstein says that Israelis are fighting the same battle that's going on in the subcontinent. What should be understood is that, as with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, here we have essentially a political/territorial conflict between Pakistan and India over J&K. The conflict has been turned by Hindu and Muslim extremists on both sides into a religious crusade.

The same is true of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Mumbai attackers, like political terrorists everywhere, desperately sought to destabilise the enemy.

Just as Indo-Pak peace talks seem to be going well, a terrorist organisation throws a spanner in the works. It is true in both Pakistan and Israel.

The terror attack, whether or not torture was involved, was a brutal, heinous and impermissible violation of the norms of human civilization. Silverstein says that to denounce the deed, nothing would be more effective than trying those involved in the attacks at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

But it's perhaps most important to be clear and focused at this time and not give into the politics of bellicose nationalism.