Cave of the Patriarchs massacre

The Mosque of Abraham massacre occurred on February 25th, 1994 in the SouthernWest Bank city of Hebron. The site of the carnage is known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque ("Abraham Mosque"), as Abraham is a revered prophet of Islam. An alternate name for the site is the Cave of the Patriarchs, and is also considered holy by Christians and Jews. Currently the city of Hebron is populated mostly by Palestinians.

The Evening Before

Many Palestinian residents of Hebron disrupted the Jewish ceremony at the cave with chants of "It-bakh al Yahud" (slaughter the Jews), a cry frequently heard in Hebron.

The Carnage

Baruch Goldstein, a Kahanist, entered the mosque and opened fire with a Galil assault rifle, killing 29 Palestinians and injuring 125. After being subdued with a fire extinguisher, Goldstein was beaten to death by survivors. After the incident, three automatic weapons were found in the Tomb, including one wrapped in a scarf.

Aftermath

• The attack led to rioting in which 26 more Palestinians and 9 Israelis were killed.
• Since the start of Al-Aqsa Intifada, many attacks directed towards Jews in prayer have occurred there, and the IDF has forbidden Palestinians from entering the area.
• All over the Middle East, Arabs rioted, attacked Jewish communities, and staged protests.

Israeli Response

• Goldstein's actions were immediately condemned by the Israeli government and the populace in general.
• Spokespeople for all the organized denominations of Judaism denounced his act as terrorism.
• The Kach movement, to which he belonged, was outlawed by the Israeli government.
• The victims of the shooting received financial compensation from the Israeli government.

The Israeli government initiated the Shamgar Commission, which found that:

• Goldstein acted alone in planning the massacre, telling no one of his scheme.
• The political leadership and security forces could not have been expected to predict it