Baruch Goldstein

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Image:Dr Baruch Goldstein Israel.jpg Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein (Hebrew: ברוך גולדשטיין, commonly pronounced as Barukh Goldshteyn) (December 9 or December 12, 1956 – February 25, 1994) was a Jewish American-Israeli physician who killed 29 Muslims and injured 125 in a 1994 shooting attack in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, West Bank.

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Background

Born in Brooklyn, New York to an Orthodox Jewish family, Baruch Goldstein was a direct descendant of the Baal HaTanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. His family also had close ties to modern-day Israel, as members of his family were killed in the Hebron riot of 1929. Goldstein attended the Yeshivah of Flatbush religious day school, Yeshiva University and Albert Einstein Medical School. He was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane and, like many of his Zionist peers, looked forward to making aliyah and contribute to Israeli society. After emigrating to Israel, he served as a physician in the Israeli Defense Force, first as a conscript, then in the reserve forces. Here, he gained notoriety for refusing to treat non-Jews, even those serving in the IDF. When Goldstein was threatened with court-martial he declared:

I am not willing to treat any non-Jew. I recognize as legitimate only two [religious] authorities: Maimonides and Kahane.Template:Ref

However the Shamgar Commission, which investigated Goldstein's role in the Cave of the Patriachs shootings, noted that Goldstein had previously treated an Arab militant in October 1990.

Following the end of his active duty, Goldstein worked as a physician and lived in the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron, where he served as the Chief Medical Officer.

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Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre

Goldstein is best known for having killed 29 Muslims and injured 125 others during Friday prayers on Purim day, February 25th, 1994, in the Cave of the Patriarchs—the burial site of Biblical figures Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebeccah, Jacob, and Leah—which is considered holy to both Muslims and Jews. He entered the mosque "[wearing] his army uniform with the insignia of rank, creating the image of a reserve officer on active duty" (Shamgar report). After being subdued with a fire extinguisher, Goldstein was beaten to death by survivors. (It seems unclear whether his death was due to this, or due to being hit with the fire extinguisher while he was shooting.) Rioting immediately followed the shooting, leading in the following week to the deaths of another 25 Palestinians, 4 Jewish settlers (one shot by Israeli forces), and one Israeli in Tel-Aviv. Template:Ref

Testimony at the Israeli inquiry raised the possibility that Goldstein had an accomplice—two Israeli army guards testified that a second settler entered the Cave of the Patriarchs on February 25 shortly after Goldstein did, and that when Goldstein went into the tomb he was armed with a gun different from the Galil assault rifle found on his body. The second settler was carrying a Galil, they said. This testimony was never confirmed, and a commission of inquiry established by Chief Justice Meir Shamgar found that Goldstein had acted on his own.

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Response

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Israel

Goldstein's actions were immediately condemned by the Israeli government, the mainstream Israeli parties and the Israeli populace in general. Spokespeople for all the organized denominations of Judaism denounced his act as immoral and as terrorism. The Kach movement, to which he belonged, was outlawed. The victims of the shooting received financial compensation.

In an address to the Knesset the Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin denounced the US-born Goldstein as a "foreign implant" and an "errant weed." He continued, "We say to this horrible man and those like him: you are a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism." Binyamin Netanyahu, head of the Likud party declared, "This was a despicable crime. I express my unequivocal condemnation."

A poll of 500 Israeli adults for the International Centre for Peace in the Middle East found that 78.8 percent of people condemned the Hebron massacre while 3.6 percent praised Goldstein.

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Jewish diaspora

In Britain the Chief Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks stated "Such an act is an obscenity and a travesty of Jewish values. That it should have been perpetrated against worshippers in a house of prayer at a holy time makes it a blasphemy as well." He continued, "Violence is evil. Violence committed in the name of God is doubly evil. Violence against those engaged in worshipping God is unspeakably evil."

An editorial in The Jewish Chronicle written by Chaim Bermant denounced the Kach organisation to which Goldstein belonged as "Neo-Nazis" and an American creation, funded by American money and a product of American gun culture.Template:Ref The same edition also reported that some liberal synagogues in the UK had begun fund-raising for Goldstein's victims.

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Hamas

On March 7, Hamas threatened suicide attacks against Jewish settlers unless the settlements of Ariel, Kedumim, Qiryat Arba, Tekoa and Gush Katif were evacuated. Bus bombings were carried out on April 6 in Afula, and on April 13 in Hadera. Template:Ref

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Supporters

Goldstein is not known to have given any reasons for his actions. However immediately after the attack Mike Guzofsky, spokesman for Kahane Chai in New York and a close friend of Goldstein said, "He wanted to stop the peace process dead. He couldn't have picked a better day - Purim, when Jews fight back." Template:Ref

At Goldstein's eulogy Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba, another of his close friends in the Kach group, stated, "Goldstein could not continue to bear the humiliations and shame nowadays inflicted upon us; this was why he took action for no other reason than to sanctify the holy name of God." Template:Ref

Other supporters, including Goldstein's widow, later defended his actions by claiming that he had pre-empted the imminent mass murder of Jews by Arabs. This claim was later reproduced in a 2003 book by Kiryat Arba resident Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons, entitled Did or Did Not Dr. Baruch Goldstein Massacre 29 Arabs?.

Other claims in the book include:

  • A week prior to that Purim morning, there were several incidents of Arab mobs at the Cave of the Patriarchs shouting "Itbach al-Yahud." which means "Slaughter the Jews."
  • The Friday at the end of Ramadan saw a huge number of Muslims attend the mosque at the Cave of the Patriachs; around 500 men and 300 women. Because of this massive influx of Palestinians, Israeli soldiers were only able to search a handful of men for weapons.
  • The leading Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, published a news reportTemplate:Ref before Purim stating that Hamas forces in Hebron had been alerting all Arabs in Hebron, through a group known as Ez a-Adin Alqass, to stock up with food and provisions since a great attack on Jews would take place and that it could be expected that, afterwards, the Israeli government would impose a curfew on the Arab population. This would also occur around the end of Ramadan.
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Gravesite and commemoration

Goldstein is buried at the Meir Kahane Memorial Park in Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement next to Hebron. The park is named in memory of Rabbi Meir Kahane, Goldstein's spiritual mentor. The Goldstein family had requested that he be buried in the ancient Jewish Cemetery of the Martyrs in Hebron, but this request was denied.

Goldstein's tombstone reads:

Here lies the saint, Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein, blessed be the memory of the righteous and holy man, may the Lord avenge his blood, who devoted his soul to the Jews, Jewish religion and Jewish land. His hands are innocent and his heart is pure. He was killed as a martyr of God on the 14th of Adar, Purim, in the year 5754 (1994).

Over the years, the site became a pilgrimage site for those with right-wing political leanings. The Local Religious Council of Kiryat Arba declared the gravesite a memorial and a properly constituted cemetery. Sidewalks, spotlights, streetlights, a cupboard with prayer books and pedestals with candles were installed by supporters. Many of these were paid for by Dov Dribben. Eventually, the site had the appearance of a small shrine.

Incensed by the homage being paid to Goldstein, the government sought to have the mini-shrine declared illegal. A bill was passed by the Israeli Knesset in 1998 forbidding the erection of monuments to people whom it considered terrorists. This led to a long battle in the High Court of Israel, which the government ultimately won. In 2000, several hundred police were dispatched to dismantle the shrine. After a battle with Goldstein-supporters that lasted several hours, resulting in many arrests, the appurtenances around the grave were dismantled.

At the time, it was also declared that a discussion of the inscription on his tombstone was pending, however no revisions have yet been made (as of 2006).

A support group, the Friends of Baruch Goldstein, hold celebrations and yearly feasts in commemoration near the gravesite.

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References

  1. Template:Note Arych Kizel in Yediot Aharonot, 1 March 1994
  2. Template:Note Middle East Journal, Chronology, vol 48, no 3 (Summer 1994) p511ff.
  3. Template:Note Chaim Bermant Has one settler settled the settlers future? in The Jewish Chronicle (London), 4 March 1994
  4. Template:Note Middle East Journal, Chronology, cited above
  5. Template:Note Geoffrey Paul (New York) and Jenni Frazer (Jerusalem) From Brooklyn to Kirya Arba in The Jewish Chronicle (London), 4 March 1994
  6. Template:Note Ilana Baum and Tzvi Singer in Yediot Aharonot, 28 February 1994
  7. Template:Note Clipping from Yediot Achronot, Exhibit 680, (Israel State Archives 7646/2-14/gimmel); Yediot Achronot, 25 February 1994, supplement, p.6 (cited at "A study of the findings of the Shamgar Commission", as footnote 174)
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See also

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External links

fr:Baruch Goldstein he:ברוך גולדשטיין ja:バールーフ・ゴールドシュテイン no:Baruch Goldstein pl:Baruch Goldstein sv:Baruch Goldstein

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