Summary
A Jewish settler from Kiryat Arba, born and raised in Brooklyn, who on 25 February 1994 stormed into the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron during prayers and opened fire on the worshipers with his assault rifle, killing 29 Palestinians and wounding dozens before unarmed Palestinians overcame him and beat him to death (Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, PDF p.278).
Details
- Ever since the massacre, Goldstein has been something of a saint to the most extreme of the Jewish settlers in the West Bank, notably those of Hebron, who especially revere him; his tombstone in Kiryat Arba reads: “Here lies the saint, Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein,” “blessed be the memory of this 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.” (PDF p.278)
- His main legacy outside the site of the massacre, in Makdisi’s account, is the large metal detector through which Palestinians must pass, with papers checked and bags searched, on their way to the Ibrahimi Mosque and the gate of the Old City (PDF p.279).