The mosque was the Ibrahimi Mosque a.k.a. the Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron, Occupied West Bank, Palestine.
The mass murderer 25 years ago was not some young wannabe like the Christchurch murderer. Rather, he was 37-year-old Baruch Goldstein, M.D. by profession, a senior figure in the Kach Kahanist movement — the furthest right in Israel’s political map — and a member of his settlement-town council.
He chose to carry out his mass murder on the Jewish holiday of Purim, which in 2019 took place last week. In 1994, it was on February 25.
He murdered 29 worshippers who had arrived that day for the early morning prayer, but the damage he’s done and the impact upon Israel-Palestine history have been far far worse. That last part is not only due to his actions, but also to the atrocious responses by Israeli civilian and military authorities, and by Palestinian militant group Hamas. Just like in the aftermath of 9/11, the response is all-important.
As New Zealand faces the aftermath of a similar right-wing terror attack, and as the American Jewish community is not far removed from the worst terror attack in its history, this is an occasion to remember the importance of public response, beyond symbolic gestures of sympathy and unity, and politically expedient but meaningless moves.
More below the fold.