Editing Baruch Goldstein (section)

==Veneration by extremists==

While mainstream Jewish religious leaders, including the chief rabbis of Israel, rejected the suggestion that killing Palestinians was authorized by the [[Torah]], some extremist religious Jews have defended Goldstein's actions.<ref name="LATimes-022894"/>

At Goldstein's funeral, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin claimed that even one million Arabs are "not worth a Jewish fingernail".<ref name="LATimes-022894">{{cite news |last=Kraft |first=Scott |title=Extremists Pay Tribute to Killer of 48 at Funeral |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-mn-28250-story.html |access-date=January 17, 2020 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 28, 1994}}</ref><ref name="wrmea-0399">{{cite journal|title=Growing Intolerance Threatens the Humane Jewish Tradition|last=Brownfeld|first=Allan C.|journal=[[Washington Report on Middle East Affairs]]|date=March 1999|pages=84–89|access-date=April 11, 2011|url=http://www.wrmea.com/component/content/article/175/1866-growing-intolerance-threatens-the-humane-jewish-tradition.html}}</ref><ref name="TheNewCrusades">{{cite book |last=Qureshi |first=Emran |title=The new crusades: constructing the Muslim enemy |last2=Sells |first2=Michael Anthony |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-231-12667-0 |page=129}}</ref> Samuel Hacohen, a teacher at a Jerusalem college, declared Goldstein the "greatest Jew alive, not in one way, but in every way", and said that he was "the only one who could do it, the only one who was 100 percent perfect".<ref name="wrmea-0399"/><ref name="TheNewCrusades"/> Rabbi [[Dov Lior]] of Kiryat Arba declared that Goldstein was "holier than all the martyrs of the Holocaust".<ref>Rachlevsky, Sefi. [http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/ruth-calderon-in-the-wonderland-of-mutilated-israeli-ideology.premium-1.514589 "Ruth Calderon in the wonderland of mutilated Israeli ideology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410131439/http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/ruth-calderon-in-the-wonderland-of-mutilated-israeli-ideology.premium-1.514589|date=April 10, 2013}} at ''[[Haaretz]]'', April 10, 2013</ref>

In the weeks following the massacre, hundreds of Israelis traveled to Goldstein's grave to celebrate his actions. Some [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidim]] danced and sang around his grave.<ref name="nyt">Haberman, Clyde. [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/01/world/hundreds-of-jews-gather-to-honor-hebron-killer.html?pagewanted=1 "Hundreds Of Jews Gather To Honor Hebron killer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218054609/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/01/world/hundreds-of-jews-gather-to-honor-hebron-killer.html?pagewanted=1|date=February 18, 2017}}, April 1, 1994, ''The New York Times''.</ref> According to one visitor to the gravesite in the wake of the attacks, "If [Goldstein] stopped these so-called peace talks, then he is truly holy because this is not real peace."<ref name=nyt/> Some visitors declared Goldstein a "saint" and "hero of Israel".<ref name=nyt/>

The phenomenon of the veneration of Goldstein's tomb persisted for years.<ref name="Party"/> Even after the dismantling of Goldstein's shrine in 1999, radical Jewish settlers continued to celebrate the anniversary of the massacre in the West Bank, sometimes even dressing up themselves or their children to look like Goldstein.<ref name="Party"/><ref name=bou>Bouckaert, Peter. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6aLsz14aKJsC&dq=Center+of+the+storm:+a+case+study+of+human+rights+abuses+in+Hebron+District+Goldstein&pg=PT91 ''Center of the Storm: a case study of human rights abuses in Hebron District''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103114845/https://books.google.com/books?id=6aLsz14aKJsC&pg=PT91&dq=Center+of+the+storm:+a+case+study+of+human+rights+abuses+in+Hebron+District+Goldstein&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1 |date=January 3, 2017 }}, 2001, page 82.</ref><ref>Horowitz, Elliott. [http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8213.html Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905092638/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8213.html|date=September 5, 2015}} pp. 8, Princeton University Press</ref><ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/goldstein-purim-party-spark-mks-protests-1.15800 Purim Party Sparks MKs Protests] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924221726/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/goldstein-purim-party-spark-mks-protests-1.15800 |date=September 24, 2015 }}, ''Haaretz'', March 19, 2003</ref>

In 2010, Jewish settlers sang songs in praise of Baruch Goldstein's massacre demonstratively in front of their Arab neighbours, during celebrations of [[Purim]]. A phrase from one song reads, "Dr. Goldstein, there is none other like you in the world. Dr. Goldstein, we all love you&nbsp;... He aimed at terrorists' heads, squeezed the trigger hard, and shot bullets, and shot, and shot."<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3857671,00.html |title=Sheikh Jarrah Jews praise Baruch Goldstein on Purim |newspaper=Ynetnews |date=March 4, 2010 |access-date=August 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101004072523/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3857671,00.html |archive-date=October 4, 2010 |url-status=live |last=Medzini |first=Ronen }}</ref>

Prior to entering the Knesset, [[Otzma Yehudit]] party leader and current Israeli [[Ministry of National Security (Israel)|Minister for National Security]] [[Itamar Ben-Gvir]] displayed a portrait of Goldstein in his living room. It was removed when Ben-Gvir entered politics.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20221027-israel-s-far-right-leader-ben-gvir-wins-adoring-young-fans|title=Israel's far-right leader Ben-Gvir wins adoring young fans|work=France24.com |date=October 27, 2022|access-date= November 2, 2022}}</ref>