But it’s unlikely that the alert led to serious security modifications at any of the hundreds of Chabad Houses around the world. “You can’t expect a rabbi and his young wife to defend against terrorists,” said Eli Karmon, a senior researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism, based in Herzliya, Israel. But Karmon pointed out that a security guard or two outside the Nariman House may not have made a difference in the face of what was clearly a well-planned attack.

Perhaps more disturbing than the attack itself to many Israelis is the prospect that a new terrorist template has been laid out — with Chabad Houses and other soft Jewish targets in the cross hairs. It is a possibility that has “staggering ramifications,” said Israeli journalist Ofer Shelah.

“What is clear is that Israeli sites, or at least sites that are connected to Israel, have become targets — be they primary or secondary — for the loose network of global jihad,” Shelah wrote in the Israeli newspaper Maariv.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in his weekly address to the Cabinet, said his Government “is doing, and will continue to do, everywhere, what needs to be done to protect Jewish institutions insofar as the matter depends on us and is possible”.

Ephraim Halevy, former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, said the Jewish state is heavily restricted in just what kind of protection it could offer non-governmental institutions like Chabad in other countries. The best Israel can do is coordinate with authorities around the world and make sure the Chabad organisation is kept informed of any potential threats, Halevy said. LATimesal, it’s not even Israeli’