Baruch Goldstein | |
|---|---|
ברוך גולדשטיין | |
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| Born | Benjamin Carl Goldstein (1956-12-09)December 9, 1956 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 25, 1994(1994-02-25) (aged 37) |
| Cause of death | Beating |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | Cave of the Patriarchs massacre |
| Motive | Anti-Palestinian racism,Zionist extremism |
| Details | |
| Date | February 25, 1994 |
| Location | West Bank |
| Killed | 29 |
| Injured | 125 |
| Weapon | IMI Galil |
Baruch Kopel Goldstein (Hebrew:ברוך קאפל גולדשטיין; bornBenjamin Carl Goldstein;[2] December 9, 1956 – February 25, 1994) was an American and Israeli physician and religious extremist who, in 1994,murdered 29 Palestinian people inHebron in theIsraeli-occupiedWest Bank, an incident ofJewish terrorism.[3][4][5] Goldstein was a supporter ofKach, areligious Zionist party that theUnited States, theEuropean Union and other countries designate as a terrorist organization.[6] Kach was banned less than a month after Goldstein's attacks on account of statements made in support of his actions.
Born in 1956 inBrooklyn,New York, to anOrthodox Jewish family, Goldstein received his education there, starting with Jewish scripture studies, and eventually studying medicine atYeshiva University. In the United States, he was a member of theJewish Defense League (JDL), a militant Jewish organization founded by his boyhood acquaintanceMeir Kahane. In 1983, Goldstein immigrated to Israel, and served as a physician in theIsraeli military, during which he refused to treat Arabs, including those serving as soldiers. Later, he worked as a physician, and lived in theIsraeli settlement ofKiryat Arba nearHebron in theIsraeli-occupiedWest Bank. Goldstein was active in Kahane's Kach party, and was third on the party list for the Knesset during the 1984 elections.
On February 25, 1994, Goldstein dressed in an Israeli military uniform, entered a mosque in theCave of the Patriarchs and opened fire on the 800 Palestinian Muslim worshippers praying there during the month ofRamadan, killing 29 and wounding 125 worshippers, until he was beaten to death by survivors.[7][8][9]
Goldstein's gravesite became a pilgrimage site for Jewish extremists.[10] The following words are inscribed on the tomb: "He gave his life for the people of Israel, its Torah and land."[9] In 1999, after the passing of Israeli legislation outlawing monuments to terrorists, the Israeli Army dismantled the shrine that had been built to Goldstein at the site of his interment. The tombstone and its epitaph, calling Goldstein a martyr with clean hands and a pure heart, was left untouched.[11] After theflagstones around it were pried away under the eye of a military chaplain, the ground was covered with gravel.
Goldstein was born on December 9, 1956, as Benjamin Goldstein inBrooklyn,New York, to anOrthodox Jewish family. He attended theYeshiva of Flatbush religiousday school. He studied medicine atYeshiva University,[12] receiving a medical degree from theAlbert Einstein College of Medicine. He belonged to theJewish Defense League (JDL), a militant Jewish organization founded by his boyhood acquaintanceMeir Kahane.[13]
Goldstein immigrated toIsrael in 1983.[1] He served as a physician in theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF), first as a conscript, then in the reserve forces. Following the end of his active duty, Goldstein worked as a physician, and lived in theIsraeli settlement ofKiryat Arba nearHebron, where he worked as an emergency doctor, and was involved in treating victims of Arab-Israeli violence.[14] He changed his name from Benjamin to Baruch, married a Soviet immigrant named Miriam,[15] and had four children. Israeli press reports claimed that Goldstein refused to treat Arabs, even Arab soldiers serving in the IDF, believing it was against Jewish laws to treat non-Jews even for payment.[16][17] This was also reflected in comments by his acquaintances.[18] Goldstein was active in Kahane'sKach party, and was third on the party list for theKnesset during the 1984 elections.[19]He compared Israel's democracy to the Nazi regime, and often wore ayellow star with the wordJUDE on it.[20]
On February 25, 1994, that year'sPurim day, Goldstein entered a room in theCave of the Patriarchs that was serving as a mosque, wearing anIsraeli army uniform "with the insignia of rank, creating the image of a reserve officer on active duty".[7][21] He then opened fire, killing 29 worshippers and wounding more than 125.[22] Mosque guard Mohammad Suleiman Abu Saleh said he thought that Goldstein was trying to kill as many people as possible, and described how there were "bodies and blood everywhere".[23] Eventually, Goldstein was overcome and beaten to death by survivors of themassacre.[24] According toIan Lustick, "By mowing down Arabs he believed wanted to kill Jews, Goldstein was re-enacting part of the Purim story."[25]
Palestinian protests and riots immediately followed the shooting; in the following week, twenty-five Palestinians were killed (by the Israel Defense Forces), as well as five Israelis.[8] Following the riots, the Israeli government imposed a two-week curfew on the 120,000 Palestinian residents of Hebron. The 400 Jewish settlers of H2 were free to move around.[26] Israeli Prime MinisterYitzhak Rabin telephonedPalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leaderYasser Arafat, and described the attack as a "loathsome, criminal act of murder".[23] In an address to the Knesset, Rabin, addressing not just Goldstein and his legacy but also other militant settlers, stated:
"You are not part of the community of Israel ... You are not part of the national democratic camp which we all belong to in this house, and many of the people despise you. You are not partners in the Zionist enterprise. You are a foreign implant. You are an errant weed. Sensible Judaism spits you out. You placed yourself outside the wall of Jewish law ... We say to this horrible man and those like him: you are a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism."
The Israeli government condemned the massacre, and responded by arresting followers of Meir Kahane, forbidding certain settlers from entering Arab towns, and demanding that those settlers turn in their army-issued rifles, though rejecting a PLO demand that settlers be disarmed and that an international force be created to protect Palestinians.[27] Goldstein was immediately "denounced with shocked horror even by the mainstream Orthodox",[28] and many in Israel classified Goldstein as insane.[29]
Israeli military authorities refused to allow Goldstein to be buried in the Jewish cemetery in Hebron.[30] He was buried opposite the Meir Kahane Memorial Park inKiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement adjacent to Hebron. The park is named in memory of RabbiMeir Kahane, founder of theIsraeli far-right political partyKach, a group classified by the United States and Israeli governments as aterrorist group. Goldstein was a long-time devotee of Kahane.[1]
The gravesite has become apilgrimage site for Jewishextremists; a plaque near the grave reads, "To the holy Baruch Goldstein, who gave his life for the Jewish people, the Torah, and the nation of Israel". According toBaruch Marzel, about 10,000 people had visited the grave by the year 2000.[10] In 1996, members of theLabor Party called for the shrine-like landscaped prayer area near the grave to be removed, and Israeli security officials expressed concern that the grave would encourage extremists.[31] In 1999, following passage of a law designed to prohibit monuments toterrorists, and an associated Supreme Court ruling, the Israeli Army bulldozed the shrine and prayer area set up near Goldstein's grave.[32] As of 2014, a new tomb has been built, and still receives visits from Jewish pilgrims.[9]
While mainstream Jewish religious leaders, including the chief rabbis of Israel, rejected the suggestion that killing Palestinians was authorized by theTorah, some extremist religious Jews have defended Goldstein's actions.[33]
At Goldstein's funeral, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin claimed that even one million Arabs are "not worth a Jewish fingernail".[33][34][35] Samuel Hacohen, a teacher at a Jerusalem college, declared Goldstein the "greatest Jew alive, not in one way, but in every way", and said that he was "the only one who could do it, the only one who was 100 percent perfect".[34][35] RabbiDov Lior of Kiryat Arba declared that Goldstein was "holier than all the martyrs of the Holocaust".[36]
In the weeks following the massacre, hundreds of Israelis traveled to Goldstein's grave to celebrate his actions. SomeHasidim danced and sang around his grave.[37] According to one visitor to the gravesite in the wake of the attacks, "If [Goldstein] stopped these so-called peace talks, then he is truly holy because this is not real peace."[37] Some visitors declared Goldstein a "saint" and "hero of Israel".[37]
The phenomenon of the veneration of Goldstein's tomb persisted for years.[10] Even after the dismantling of Goldstein's shrine in 1999, radical Jewish settlers continued to celebrate the anniversary of the massacre in the West Bank, sometimes even dressing up themselves or their children to look like Goldstein.[10][38][39][40]
In 2010, Jewish settlers sang songs in praise of Baruch Goldstein's massacre demonstratively in front of their Arab neighbours, during celebrations ofPurim. A phrase from one song reads, "Dr. Goldstein, there is none other like you in the world. Dr. Goldstein, we all love you ... He aimed at terrorists' heads, squeezed the trigger hard, and shot bullets, and shot, and shot."[41]
Prior to entering the Knesset,Otzma Yehudit party leader and current IsraeliMinister for National SecurityItamar Ben-Gvir displayed a portrait of Goldstein in his living room. It was removed when Ben-Gvir entered politics.[42]
Still fresh in the memory of almost all the inhabitants was the Goldstein case of 1994, when a two-week curfew was imposed on the 1,20,000 [sic] Palestinian residents of the city, but not on the 400 Jewish settlers of H2.
Faced with rage in the territories and its own revulsion over the Hebron massacre, the P.L.O. has dug in on its demands that all settlers be disarmed and that an international force be created to protect Palestinians. Mr. Rabin has said no to both demands. But he [Rabin] has imposed tougher measures against a relatively small number of the most militant settlers, which, while far from what the Palestinians want, represents a significant shift for the Government. Several days after ordering the arrest of five people faithful to the anti-Arab preaching of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, the army began today to carry out other measures, telling 18 settlers to stay out of Arab towns and to turn in their army-issued rifles.
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