The New York Times · 10 April 1994

CP-1994-064

Cold-Blooded Killer

(Rabbi) William G. Hamilton

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Transcribed from the clipping

To the Editor: “The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.” Soren Kierkegaard’s words have never been more applicable than in the wake of Baruch Goldstein’s antihuman, anti-Jewish act of barbarism in Hebron. Condemnation of the massacre was swift and thoroughgoing. Yet Dr.

Goldstein’s horrific deed has been magnified to the point of taking on a life all its own. Anthony Lewis suggests in “Self-Inflicted Wounds” (column, April 1) that Israelis and Israel’s supporters kid themselves if they cannot see that Dr. Goldstein’s act shows how oppressed and threatened Palestinians have been under 27 years of occupation.

How remarkable it is that a tiny band of extremist Jewish settlers now appear so widespread that they represent the greatest threat to peace as well as to the moral fabric and security of Israel. The monster of the Hebron massacre has not made a monster out of every opponent of the Gaza-Jericho First peace plan.

Baruch Goldstein’s heinous act also does not entitle Emile Habibi to fabricate history in “Massacre and Redemption” (Op-Ed, March 28) by claiming that a national conflict between Israelis and Arabs has witnessed century-old attempts to annihilate one another. Precisely who was Baruch Goldstein emulating from the annals of Jewish history?

A tragedy within the tragedy is that Baruch Goldstein was a cold-blooded killer, not a self-glorifying martyr.

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