Baruch Goldstein

On 25 February 1994, the day of the Jews' annual Purim festival, when they celebrate a massacre of 75,000 Persians 2,500 years ago, Baruch Goldstein entered the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron and opened fire on the worshippers inside.

Thus were 29 of those who were kneeling in prayer at the Tomb of the Patriarchs killed.

Goldstein was in the process of reloading his rifle when it jammed. He was subsequently beaten to death by those who had managed to survive the initial assault.

In 1994, Rabbi Moshe Levinger a prominent leader of the Orthodox Israeli community was quoted thus, in the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot:

"I am sorry for the 29 Palestinians murdered by Goldstein in the same way that I would be sorry for the killing of 29 flies."
 

In a letter to Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, dated 28 April 1994, Dov Lior, the Rabbi at the settlement of Kiryat Arba where Goldstein lived, said this:

"Since Goldstein did what he did in God's own name, he is to be regarded as a righteous man... A Jew who is killed because he is a Jew must certainly be called ... a holy martyr."

Here's another unrelated goodie from Rabbi Dov:

"Gentile sperm leads to cruel and barbaric offspring."

Rabbi Israel Ariel, who read a eulogy at Goldstein's funeral, said this on that day:

"The holy martyr, Baruch Goldstein, is from now on our intercessor in heaven. Goldstein did not act as an individual, he heard the cry of the land of Israel, which is being stolen from us day after day by the Muslims.

He acted to relieve that cry of the land."

In 1994, Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg produced an extended essay on the Goldberg massacre. In this, he stated that:

"The crowning glory of his act is the sanctification of God...

God looks more fondly on Jewish blood and therefore it is redder and its life has priority."

In March 1999, Samuel Hacohen, an Israeli teacher, was quoted thus in The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs:

"Baruch Goldstein was the greatest Jew, not in one way, but in every way...

There are no innocent Arabs here, and thank God that one Jewish hero reminded us that it had become almost legal to kill Jews in the street. He is the only one who could do it, the only one who was 100 percent perfect. He was no crazy... 

Killing isn't nice, but sometimes it is very necessary."

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