Baruch Goldstein: Encyclopedia - Baruch Goldstein

Baruch Goldstein

Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein (commonly called in Israel ברוך גולדשטיין Barukh Goldshteyn) (December 9 or December 12, 1956 – February 25, 1994) was a Jewish American-Israeli physician who killed 29 Muslims and injured approximately 100 in a 1994 shooting attack in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Israel.

Baruch Goldstein - Background

Born in Brooklyn, New York to an Orthodox Jewish family, Dr. 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 murdered in the Hebron riot of 1929[1]. Goldstein attended religious day school, Yeshiva University and Albert Einstein Medical School. He was also a 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:

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 head medical officer.

After Goldstein's death, the Shamgar Commission, which investigated Goldstein's role in the 1994 attack, noted that Goldstein did treat and heal an Arab militant in October 1990.

Baruch Goldstein - Cave of the Patriarchs Shooting

Goldstein is best known for having killed 29 Muslims during Friday prayers on Purim day, February 25th, 1994, in the Cave of the Patriarchs—the burial site of Biblical figures Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah—which is considered holy to both Muslims and Jews. After being subdued with a fire extinguisher, Goldstein was beaten to death by survivors. At his eulogy Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba stated:

Rioting immediately followed the shooting, leading to the deaths of another 26 Palestinians and 9 Israelis.

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 different gun from the Galil assault rifle found by 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.

Goldstein's actions were immediately condemned by the Israeli government, 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.

However, he became a hero to some Israeli right-wing extremists. Members of the outlawed Kach organization defend his actions (claiming that he pre-empted the mass murder of Jews by Arabs).

Baruch Goldstein - Supporters of Goldstein

Supporters sometimes hold celebrations at Goldstein's gravesite in Kiryat Arba. His tombstone reads:

Goldstein is not known to have given any reasons for his actions. However his supporters, among them his widow, later made the following claims:

• A week prior to that Purim morning, there were several incidents of Arab mobs at the Cave of the Patriarchs shouting "Itbach al-Yahood." which means "Slaughter the Jews."
• The metal detector at the East Gate where most of the Arabs entered that Friday Purim morning was damaged the night before.
• 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.
• Yitzchak Matoof, local resident, testified that "Arab storekeepers told me not to come to the Machpelah on Purim as it will not be good for Jews there."
• The leading Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, published a news report 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.

Baruch Goldstein - Israel's Response

In 1998, a bill passed in the Israeli Knesset forbade the erection of monuments to whom it considered as terrorists. In 2000, a small shrine built around Goldstein's tomb was demolished. At the time, it was also declared that a discussion of the inscription on his tombstone was pending, but no revisions have yet been made (as of 2005).

See also

• Mosque of Abraham massacre
• Jewish fundamentalism
• Kach
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Militancy

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Baruch Goldstein", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki