Baruch Goldstein

Baruch Goldstein was born in 1956 in Brooklyn

Goldstein was born Benjamin Goldstein in Brooklyn, New York, in 1956, to an Orthodox Jewish family. He attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush and joined the Jewish Defense League, founded by Meir Kahane.

He completed a bachelor's degree at Yeshiva University in 1977. He then earned a medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

After moving to Israel, he served as a physician in the IDF, first in regular service and later in the reserves. Reports said he refused to treat Arabs, and he was removed from his reserve battalion over this.

He lived in Kiryat Arba and worked there as a community and emergency doctor. He married Miriam, changed his first name to Baruch, and had 4 children. He was active in Kach, stood third on its Knesset list in 1984, was elected to the Kiryat Arba council, and founded a park in memory of Kahane.

On February 25, 1994, wearing an IDF uniform, he opened fire on Muslim worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs, killing 29 and wounding 125. Survivors beat him to death. A state commission found he acted alone, and in 1999 the army dismantled the shrine built at his grave.