by SEBASTIAN ROTELLA
Mir told his men to try to trade the hostages for a gunman who had been captured. Mir spoke directly to the Mexican hostage, 50-year-old Norma Rabinovich, who had been preparing to move to Israel to join her adult children.
Mir soothed the sobbing woman in accented but smooth English.
“Save your energy for good days,” Mir told her during the call intercepted by Indian intelligence. “If they contact right now, maybe you gonna, you know, celebrate your Sabbath with your family.”
The prisoner swap failed. Mir ordered the gunman to “get rid” of Rabinovich.
“Stand her up on this side of your door,” he said. “Shoot her such that the bullet goes right through her head and out the other side… Do it. I’m listening… Do it, in God’s name.”
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(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)