Cave of the Patriarchs massacre | |
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Part of Israeli settler violence | |
Location | Hebron, West Bank |
Date | February 25, 1994 |
Target | Muslim worshippers |
Attack type | Zionist terrorism, mass murder, mass shooting |
Weapons | IMI Galil |
Deaths | 30 (including the perpetrator) |
Injured | 125 |
Perpetrator | Baruch Goldstein |
Motive | Anti-Palestinian racism, Jewish extremism |
Part of a series on |
Islamophobia |
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The Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre or the Hebron massacre,[1] was a shooting massacre carried out by Baruch Goldstein, an American-Israeli physician and extremist of the far-right ultra-Zionist Kach movement. On 25 February 1994, during the Jewish holiday of Purim, which had overlapped in that year with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan,[2] Goldstein opened fire with an assault rifle on a large gathering of Palestinian Muslims praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. He killed 29 people, several as young as 12 years, and wounded 125.[3] Goldstein was overpowered and beaten to death by survivors.
The atrocity strained the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords peace process, immediately setting off mass protests by Palestinians throughout the West Bank. During the ensuing clashes, a further 20 to 26 Palestinians were killed while 120 were injured in confrontations with the Israeli military,[4] and 9 Israeli Jews were also killed.[5]
Goldstein was widely denounced in Israel and by communities in the Jewish diaspora,[6] with many attributing his act to insanity.[7] Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin condemned the attack, describing Goldstein as a "degenerate murderer" and "a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism".[8][9][10] Some Jewish settlers in Hebron lauded him as a hero, viewing his attack as a pre-emptive strike and his subsequent death as an act of martyrdom.[11] Following statements in support of Goldstein's actions, the Jewish ultranationalist Kach party was banned and designated a terrorist organization by the Israeli government.[12]
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