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

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. Some 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 College of Medicine. He was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane.

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 authorities: Maimonides and Kahane." Goldstein's Certificate of Discharge, which is given to every Israeli soldier after their compulsory military service, described him as "devoted, efficient, diligent, enterprising, thorough, disciplined and expert in his profession." 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.

The Shamgar Commission, which later investigated Goldstein's role in the Cave of the Patriachs massacre, noted that Goldstein had treated an Arab militant in October 1990. Also, Colonel Dr. Arie Eldad, Medical Officer of the Central Command, Major Nachman Ash, Medical Officer of the Judea and Samaria Division, and Moti Unger, the Night Security Officer of the Kiryat Arba Local Council all testified that to their knowledge Goldstein had treated Jew and Arab alike. Evidence was also given by Superintendent Uri Weisskop, who was acting Commander of the Hebron Police Station, that he had not come across any case of Goldstein refusing to give medical aid to a wounded Arab.

Cave of the Patriarchs massacre

Main article: Cave of the Patriarchs massacre

On February 25, 1994, that year's Purim day, Goldstein entered a room in the Cave of the Patriarchs serving as a mosque, wearing "his army uniform with the insignia of rank, creating the image of a reserve officer on active duty" (Shamgar report). He then opened fire at Muslims, killing 29 and wounding 125. 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. After being subdued with a fire extinguisher, Goldstein was beaten to death by Muslim worshippers, notably after his rifle had been taken from him. Because of this, his official death certificate issued by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior lists the cause of his death as "murder".

Rioting immediately followed the shooting, leading in the following week to the deaths of another 25 Palestinians, four Jewish settlers (one shot by Israeli forces), and one Israeli in Tel Aviv.

Although the Israeli authorities know (via an Arab collaborator who was present that morning) the names of the Arabs who killed Goldstein, they were never brought to trial.

Response

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, 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.

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 U.S. creation, funded by American money and a product of American gun culture. The same edition also reported that some liberal synagogues in the UK had begun fund-raising for Goldstein's victims.

On the other hand, there were also articles and letters in the U.S. Jewish press stating that Baruch Goldstein "pre-emptively struck, thus saving many Jewish lives."

Arab protests

Numerous demonstrations, some violent, occurred across countries in the Middle-East and world. At one such protest in Amman, Jordan, 77-year-old British tourist Howard Long was stabbed by Palestinian protestors. The attacker, Khalid Husni Al-Korashi, was subsequently arrested and the Jordanian Interior Ministry called for its citizens to show calm and restraint in their response.

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.

New York

On March 1 1994, Lebanese born Rashid Baz, armed with a Glock 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol and a 9-millimeter Cobray machine gun, shot at a van full of Hasidic Jewish rabbinical seminary students on the Brooklyn Bridge. Four students were injured in the attack, two seriously with gunshot wounds to the head. Ari Halberstam, a sixteen year old, died of his wounds four days later. While under arrest, Baz confessed to the shootings and was subsequently convicted of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 141 years in prison. Although he stated the motive for the shooting was "road rage," a later report by Federal authorities described the shootings as "the crimes of a terrorist." Shortly before the attack, Baz attended the Islamic Center of Bay Ridge, whose imam frequently incited anti-Semitism and called for the support of groups such as Hamas. At Baz' trial, it was revealed that the imam told those in attendance, "This takes the mask off the Jews. It shows them to be racist and fascist and as bad as the Nazis. Palestinians are suffering from the occupation, and it’s time to end it."

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."

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."

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 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.

References

Arych Kizel in Yediot Aharonot, 1 March 1994
Shamgar Commission: Report pp. 15, 47-48.
Death certificate (March 9, 1994).
^ Middle East Journal, Chronology, vol 48, no 3 (Summer 1994) p511ff.
Tel Aviv District Court Archives file I.S. 1160/94, Para. 4, 5 (February 11, 1998).
'The Jewish Chronicle' (London) 4 March 1994, page 1 and then expanded on page 23
Chaim Bermant Has one settler settled the settlers future? in The Jewish Chronicle (London), 4 March 1994
e.g. "A Visitor to Israel...." article in "The Jewish Press" by Carl Bishop, 11 March 1994; Letters to the Editor "The Jewish Week" from Dr. M. R. Lehmann, 4 November-10 November 1994; "One Year Later...." article in "Algermeiner Journal" by Dr. M. R. Lehmann, 17 February 1995; "In Retrospect" article in The Jewish Press by Arnold Fine, 7 July 1995.
^ Barsky, Yehudit. The Brooklyn Bridge Shooting: An Independent Report and Assessment. The American Jewish Committee. Nov. 2000. Accessed June 12, 2006.
Heilman, Uriel. Murder on the Brooklyn Bridge, Middle East Quarterly. Summer 2001. Accessed June 12, 2006.
Geoffrey Paul (New York) and Jenni Frazer (Jerusalem) From Brooklyn to Kirya Arba in The Jewish Chronicle (London), 4 March 1994
Ilana Baum and Tzvi Singer in Yediot Aharonot, 28 February 1994

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