Baruch Goldstein

Baruch Kappel Goldstein (December 9 or December 12, 1956 – February 25, 1994, ברוך גולדשטיין) was an American born Israeli terrorist who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, murdering 29 Arabs at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque (within the Cave of the Patriarchs) and wounding another 150 in a shooting attack.

Biography
Goldstein was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Orthodox Jewish family. He attended the Yeshivah of Flatbush religious day school and Yeshiva University. He received his medical training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He belonged to the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a militant Jewish organization 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. 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 an emergency doctor.

In the autumn of 1993, in recognition of his medical work, Goldstein received two citations from the Israeli Army" . In January 1994, Major Dr Yitzchak Ashkenazi, the local medical Officer of the district of Judea and Samaria recommended Goldstein for promotion to the rank of Major in the Israeli Army"

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, killing 29 Arab Muslims and wounding 150. 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 and disarmed, Goldstein was beaten to death.

The death certificate issued by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior lists the cause of his death as "murder." Although the Israeli authorities knew (via an Arab source who was present that morning) the names of those who killed Goldstein, they were never brought to trial although his wife requested that they be charged with homicide.

Arab rioting immediately followed the shooting, leading in the following week to the deaths of 25 Palestinians and five Israelis. Following the massacre, Israel imposed curfews on the 20,000 Palestinians in the Hebron market area. The Israeli government condemned the massacre.

Treatment of non-Jews
Contradictory evidence exists as to whether he refused to treat non-Jews in his service as a civilian physician or while serving in the Israeli Army. Israeli press-reports state that he refused 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."

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, Moshe Givati, the former Brigade Commander in Hebron," 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 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."

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, founder of the Israeli far-right political party Kach, a group classified by the United States and Israeli governments as a terrorist organization. Goldstein was a long-time devotee of the rabbi.

The gravesite has become a pilgrimage site for those with extreme right-wing political views; 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." In 2000, admirers gathered at his grave on Purim dressed as Goldstein, wearing lab coats, false beards, and carrying guns. Between the killings and 2000, an estimated 10,000 people have visited the grave. Members of the Labor Party called for the shrine-like landscaped prayer area near the grave to be removed, and Israeli security officials have expressed concern that the grave will encourage extremists.