To his friends it made sense. “He did this to stop the Israeli government from committing suicide,” insists Barbara Ginsburg, a fellow radical from the late Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Kach movement. “He was not insane.” Observed an elderly man in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood, where Goldstein was raised: “Benjie was always an extremist.”
Goldstein’s parents, both school employees, raised three strictly Orthodox-and opinionated-children; Benjie used to argue with the local rabbi. His chief goal quickly became to defend Israel as a doctor, and he pursued it brilliantly, graduating with a long fist of honors from Yeshiva University. Still, there was a tough side. He was a natural recruit for Kahane, another Brooklyn native, who was building the militant Jewish Defense League amid escalating friction between New York blacks and Jews in the 1970s. Even as a medical student, Goldstein found time for JDL work-including weapons training. By the time he had his M.D. in 1981, he had signed on to Kahane’s radical vision. Two years later he followed Kahane to the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.
As he had dreamed, he put his medical training in service of the cause. During a hitch in the army, he treated the wounded from Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s. As casualties mounted from a war on the home front between settler vigilantes and Palestinians, he became the settlement’s chief medic.
“Dr. Goldstein saved hundreds of lives,” said one friend. And the doctor again threw himself into politics. He ran Kahane’s successful bid for a Parliament seat, and represented Kach on the local council in Kiryat Arba. When he married an Israeli woman, Kahane performed the ceremony. Kahane’s 1990 assassination in New York was shattering to him. He repeatedly told friends that the killing must be avenged.
What made him decide to be the one to do it? Neighbors said the doctor had been distraught over the fatal ambush of a close friend. A brief note Goldstein left was no help. Perhaps the best hint was a passage from the Book of Esther that he quietly read to his children just hours before the massacre. “Thus the Jews smote all their enemies … and did what they would unto those that hated them,” it concludes. As the doctor could appreciate better than most, that’s a prescription for still more suffering.
Built over a cave in which Abraham is buried, the Tomb of the Patriarchs is used for worship by Muslims and Jews. Israeli security guards use checkpoints and metal detectors in an attempt to prevent violence.
About 800 Muslims were worshiping at 5:30 a.m. Normally a dozen Israelis stand guard; that day only four were present.
Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a militant Jew, wearing his military uniform, forced his way past a checkpoint.
Goldstein began shooting from the entrance to the Muslim section. About 40 people were killed and 150 wounded by bullets and shrapnel.
As the shooting continued, many Muslims tried to flee through an alternate exit. In the melee, more were killed, and soldiers attempting to enter were blocked.
Some muslims say that other Israelis fired on them. Eventually Goldstein was overpowered by Arabs, who beat him to death.
title: " Benjie Was Always An Extremist " ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Mary Breed”
To his friends it made sense. “He did this to stop the Israeli government from committing suicide,” insists Barbara Ginsburg, a fellow radical from the late Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Kach movement. “He was not insane.” Observed an elderly man in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood, where Goldstein was raised: “Benjie was always an extremist.”
Goldstein’s parents, both school employees, raised three strictly Orthodox-and opinionated-children; Benjie used to argue with the local rabbi. His chief goal quickly became to defend Israel as a doctor, and he pursued it brilliantly, graduating with a long fist of honors from Yeshiva University. Still, there was a tough side. He was a natural recruit for Kahane, another Brooklyn native, who was building the militant Jewish Defense League amid escalating friction between New York blacks and Jews in the 1970s. Even as a medical student, Goldstein found time for JDL work-including weapons training. By the time he had his M.D. in 1981, he had signed on to Kahane’s radical vision. Two years later he followed Kahane to the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.
As he had dreamed, he put his medical training in service of the cause. During a hitch in the army, he treated the wounded from Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s. As casualties mounted from a war on the home front between settler vigilantes and Palestinians, he became the settlement’s chief medic.
“Dr. Goldstein saved hundreds of lives,” said one friend. And the doctor again threw himself into politics. He ran Kahane’s successful bid for a Parliament seat, and represented Kach on the local council in Kiryat Arba. When he married an Israeli woman, Kahane performed the ceremony. Kahane’s 1990 assassination in New York was shattering to him. He repeatedly told friends that the killing must be avenged.
What made him decide to be the one to do it? Neighbors said the doctor had been distraught over the fatal ambush of a close friend. A brief note Goldstein left was no help. Perhaps the best hint was a passage from the Book of Esther that he quietly read to his children just hours before the massacre. “Thus the Jews smote all their enemies … and did what they would unto those that hated them,” it concludes. As the doctor could appreciate better than most, that’s a prescription for still more suffering.
Built over a cave in which Abraham is buried, the Tomb of the Patriarchs is used for worship by Muslims and Jews. Israeli security guards use checkpoints and metal detectors in an attempt to prevent violence.
About 800 Muslims were worshiping at 5:30 a.m. Normally a dozen Israelis stand guard; that day only four were present.
Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a militant Jew, wearing his military uniform, forced his way past a checkpoint.
Goldstein began shooting from the entrance to the Muslim section. About 40 people were killed and 150 wounded by bullets and shrapnel.
As the shooting continued, many Muslims tried to flee through an alternate exit. In the melee, more were killed, and soldiers attempting to enter were blocked.
Some muslims say that other Israelis fired on them. Eventually Goldstein was overpowered by Arabs, who beat him to death.
