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Status: Sentenced to 141 years in prison with no possibility of
parole on January 18, 1995
The Brooklyn Bridge
Shooting was an incident that took place on March 1,
1994, when Lebanese-born Rashid Baz, armed with a Glock
9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol and a 9-millimeter
Cobray machine gun, shot on a van carrying members of
the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish movement on the
Brooklyn Bridge.
Four students were injured in the
attack, two seriously with gunshot wounds to the head.
One of the victims, Ari Halberstam, a sixteen-year-old,
died of his wounds four days later and the other still
suffers major speech impediments till this day.
While under arrest, Baz confessed to
the shootings and was subsequently convicted of second-degree
murder. He was sentenced to 141 years in prison.
Although he stated the motive for the shooting was "road
rage," a later report by the FBI reclassified the
shootings as "the crimes of a terrorist."
The incident took place one week
after the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre on February
25, 1994, when Brooklyn-born Baruch Goldstein, wearing
his Israeli army uniform, entered a room serving as a
mosque in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and
opened fire at Muslims, killing 29 and wounding 125.
Some have hypothesized that Baz' actions were related to
a sermon he heard regarding the incident.
Shortly before the attack, Baz
attended the Islamic Center of Bay Ridge, whose imam
frequently incited anti-Semitism and called for the
support of groups such as Hamas. At Baz's trial, it was
revealed that the imam told those in attendance, "This [attack]
takes the mask off the Jews. It shows them to be racist
and fascist and as bad as the Nazis. Palestinians are
suffering from the occupation, and it’s time to end it."
The entrance ramp to the bridge on
the Manhattan side was named the Ari Halberstam Memorial
Ramp in memory of the victim.
Wikipedia.org
Rashid Baz
(1966-) is a Lebanese-born immigrant and convicted
murderer who shot and killed 16-year old Ari Halberstam
on March 1, 1994 while driving on the ramp to the
Brooklyn Bridge (re-named the Ari Halberstam ramp in
1995).
The
Shooting
While driving on the approach ramp to
the Brooklyn Bridge from the FDR Drive Baz took out two
9-millimeter semi-automatic pistols and fired on a van
carrying 15 members of the Lubavitcher sect of Judaism,
who were returning from a visit to the hospital where
the Lubavitcher Rebbe had undergone minor surgery. Ari
Halberstam was shot in the head and died four days later
in the hospital; three other students were seriously
wounded in the attack.
Trial
Baz' defense team portrayed him as
suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to his
childhood exposure to violence during the Lebanese Civil
War. They argued further that Baz' actions were
triggered by the killing of 29 Muslims just 4 days
earlier by Baruch Goldstein in Hebron. The jury rejected
this argument, and on December 1, 1994 Baz was convicted
on one count of murder, 14 counts of attempted murder,
and one count of criminal use of a firearm.
Sentencing
On January 18, 1995 Baz received a
term of 141 years in person with no chance of parole.
Judge Harry Rothwax stated that Baz deserved the "most
severe punishment."
Justice
Department Inquiry
Despite the conviction of Baz, the
Halberstam family and others wanted the case
reclassified as a terrorist attack and wanted a further
investigation to probe any terrorist links to Baz. On
August 26, 1999 the Justice Department and FBI agreed to
open an investigation into Baz. The investigation did
not yield any new leads connected to terrorist
organizations but the Justice Department did formally
reclassify the incident as an act of terrorism.
Wikipedia.org
Sequence of Events
The
Attack
On March 1, 1994, A gunman in a car
opened fire on a van carrying more than a dozen Hasidic
students as it began to cross the Brooklyn Bridge from
Manhattan, critically wounding two young men and
injuring two others.
The lone gunman, driving a blue
Chevrolet Caprice equipped with a submachine gun, two
9mm guns, and a "street sweeper" shotgun, pursued the
van full of terrified students across the bridge. He
fired in three separate bursts, spraying both sides of
the van. He then disappeared into traffic as the van
came to a stop at the Brooklyn end of the bridge. The
injured Yeshiva students were among dozens who were
returning from a Manhattan hospital where the spiritual
leader of the Lubavitch movement, Rabbi Menachem M.
Schneerson, had undergone minor surgery.
The attack occurred less than a week
after the massacre of Muslims by a Brooklyn-born Jewish
settler in the West Bank. The shooting began at 10:24
A.M. on the ramp that leads from the Franklin D.
Roosevelt Drive to the Brooklyn Bridge. The van that was
fired on, a white Dodge Ram 350 carrying 15 students,
was one of perhaps 20 vehicles en route back to Crown
Heights from Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital,
where Rabbi Schneerson was being treated.
Initially, the gunman followed the
Rebbe's entourage to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. When
he found that it was closed to other vehicular traffic,
he reversed his course and traveled north to the
Brooklyn Bridge. When the gunman saw the students garbed
in their Hasidic dress, he immediately opened fire. In
the first burst of gunfire, the gunman strafed the
passenger side of the van, striking three of the
students and blowing out the rear windows.
The van came to a stop, and two of
the students stumbled out as the driver and the others
attempted to see if anyone had been hit. Gunfire then
erupted again from the blue four-door Chevrolet, this
time raking the driver's side. The driver of the van
then sped off toward Brooklyn, leaving the two students
on the bridge. They were later picked up by an emergency
medical technician.
The gunman followed the fleeing van
with shouts of "Kill the Jews," hailed in Arabic. He
once more fired shots at the passenger side of the
vehicle before it swerved off the bridge at the Cadman
Plaza exit. The van, with at least six bullet holes in
its body and windows destroyed, finally came to a halt
at the Brooklyn entrance to the bridge.
The
Wounded
All the shooting victims were
immediately rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital. The most
severe of the wounded was 16-year-old Ari Halberstam who
was shot in the head. He suffered from profound brain
injuries and died five days later. Nachum Sosonkin, 18,
also shot in the head, underwent surgery to relieve
pressure on his brain. He still has a bullet lodged in
his brain, but has made a miraculous recovery. He is
deaf in one ear and has trouble walking unaided. Two
other students, Yaakov Schapiro, 17, and Levi Wilhelm,
18, suffered less serious gunshot wounds. One lost part
of his intestines. Needless to say, every one of the 14
boys on that van will carry the trauma of these
experiences for the rest of their lives.
The
Funeral
At least ten thousand mourners
gathered in front of 770 Eastern Parkway, the
headquarters of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Cries of anguish
could be heard as the coffin bearing the body of Ari
Halberstam was carried to the funeral hearse. The hearse
drove Halberstam for a final tour of Crown Heights, past
the yeshiva on Troy Avenue where he studied, past the
Lubavitcher Rebbe's former home on President Street. It
stopped in front of the Halberstam home on Eastern
Parkway, where members of the family made a small
incision into their clothing, and Ari's father, mother
and siblings ripped another three inches deeper, saying,
as is customary for the Jewish mourner, "Blessed is the
True Judge."
They then put on their coats and
walked slowly down Eastern Parkway and knew this funeral
would not be private. Their Ari now belonged to history,
a history of martyrs, mentioned in the same breath as
Yankel Rosenbaum and the Six Million. Thousands of Jews
swelled across Eastern Parkway and down Kingston Avenue.
They all came, Reform, Conservative, Viznitz, Belz,
Agudah. Dozens of Hasidim watched from fire escapes.
Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Mario Cuomo watched from the
podium.
More than 250 police officers joined
in the funeral procession to guard against any incidents
that might take place. Rabbi Sholom Ber Hecht, a cousin
of the Halberstam family addressed the masses, in a rare
eulogy for Lubavitcher Chasidim, who only eulogize
martyrs.
On the last Sabbath of Halberstam's
life, said an emotional Hecht, "When the Torah scroll
was read in the main synagogue, a mistake, a defect was
found in the Torah. The word echod; meaning oneness or
unity, was found to be written incorrectly," rendering
the entire scroll unfit for use. "Upon reflection, an
amazing thought comes to mind. The Hebrew letters of the
word echod comprise the initial letters of Halberstam
family, Aaron, the child, and the parents, Chesed and
Devorah. "The unity of this family has now been
shattered by a terrorist's bullet. Our sages tell us,
every Jew is a letter in the Sefer Torah. When the life
of one family is devastated, then the entire Sefer Torah
is affected; the life of the entire Jewish people is
shattered and, clearly, this is a sign from on High that
there is imperfection in the unity of the Jewish people...
He has been offered up as a sacrificial lamb, and his
life has been taken as a family and the entire Jewish
people."
Hundreds of drivers got out of their
cars and stood to pay tribute as the hearse carried Ari
Halberstam's body to the chapel in Montefiore Cemetery
in Queens. The Chevra Kaddisha (those involved in Jewish
burial) lowered Halberstam into the grave just across
the aisle from the Lubavitcher Rebbe's wife, of blessed
memory. Down with the casket went some sand from the
previous Lubavitcher Rebbe's grave and some holy soil
from the Land of Israel, to ease the resurrection.
Befitting the ideology, the Kaddish was said: "May His
Great Name grow exalted and sanctified in the world
which He will create anew, where He will resuscitate the
dead...and rebuild the city of Jerusalem." The
Halberstam's went home to Eastern Parkway, the little
ones cried and ate bagels and eggs. (This is a Jewish
customs for mourners.
After the funeral, neighbors provide
the mourners with their first meal, a "meal of
condolence." It is customary to eat round foods at this
meal (e.g., eggs, lentils, bagels), symbolic of the
cycle of life and death; also, the circle has no opening,
just as the mourners cannot yet find the words to
express their grief.)
The
Arrest
Soon after Rashid Baz strafed the fan
full of students, he drove his damaged car to a Brooklyn
repair shop and shoved a gun against an employee's head.
"Fix my car and fix it fast," he demanded. The employee
of the Hilal Auto Repair Service in Red Hook contacted
police after the suspect drove from the lot, one car
window shattered during the shooting spree, still
unrepaired. That tip and others, directed detectives to
Baz, 28, a Lebanese national arrested March 2, 1994, and
charged with 15 counts of attempted murder in the
Brooklyn Bridge attack that inflamed fears of Arab
retaliation for the massacre of mosque worshippers on
Israel's West Bank just a few days earlier.
The Beirut-born Baz, who entered the
United States on a student visa in 1984 and briefly
attended Rockland Community College, was arrested at
2:30 a.m. at a 242 45th St., Brooklyn residence he
shared with an aunt and uncle. Bassam Reyati, 27, who
runs the Pioneer Car Service that employs Baz and owns
the Chevrolet Impala the suspect drove through his
alleged spree, was also arrested, as was Hilal Mohammed,
32, is an acquaintance of Baz and owner of the repair
shop.
Both Jordanians living in Brooklyn,
they were charged last night with hindering prosecution
and illegal weapons possession. Investigators turned up
four illegal weapons in Reyati's home - a 9mm Cobray
handgun, a Glock 17 semiautomatic, a "street sweeper"
12-guage shotgun and a .380-cal semiautomatic pistol.
Police also recovered a stun gun, a bulletproof vest and
two 50-round ammunition clips for the Cobray.
Baz told police he bought the weapons
after being robbed six weeks ago. In a statement to
detectives, Baz reportedly insisted he began firing only
after the vanload of students taunted him on the FDR
drive over his Muslim headdress, a kaffiyeh. Baz told
detectives that the attack began as a traffic dispute at
the FDR exit to the bridge. Detectives armed with search
warrants for the repair shop and the blue 1978 Impala,
found a few blocks from Hilal Auto Repair Shop,
retrieved shell casings that matched bullets fired at
the students.
The suspect apparently tossed spent
shells into the dumpster after cleaning out the vehicle
at the 237 Hamilton Ave. shop, not far from the bridge.
Search warrants were also executed for Baz' 45th Street
apartment and a hallway adjacent to it. Detectives found
anti-Jewish literature in the apartment, which is leased
to his uncle. Baz did not have a livery cab driver
license from the city. Pioneer Car Service was also
operating without a license.
The
Sentencing
On December 1, 1994, Rashid Baz was
convicted of one count of second-degree murder and 14
counts of attempted murder, one for each of the
surviving students in the van.
On January 18, 1995, he was sentenced
to 141 years in prison for the attack. Mr. Baz sat
placidly throughout the hour-long proceeding and chose
not to speak on his own behalf. Barring a successful
appeal, he will probably spend the rest of his life in
jail.
According to the state law, a
prisoner must serve at least the minimum of his sentence
before being eligible for parole. In Mr. Baz's case, the
minimum is 141 years and 8 months.
Justice Harold Rothwax of State
Supreme Court sentenced Mr. Baz to 25 years to life for
the second- degree murder charge, and consecutive terms
of 8 1/3 years to 25 years for the attempted murder
counts.
During his five-week trial a
psychologist and a psychiatrist testified for the
defense that Mr. Baz, who at age 9 had joined one of the
armed militias, had suffered serious trauma while
growing up amid the warfare.
His lawyer, Eric Sears, argued that
he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder on
the day of the shooting. Upset by the massacre of Muslim
worshippers in Hebron, Baz suffered a flashback when he
saw the van of Hasidic students and believed that they
were attacking him. But a prosecution psychiatrist
described him as angry man with an antisocial
personality.
In pleading for leniency, Mr. Sears
said that Mr. Baz had acted spontaneously and said the
court should consider the trauma of Mr. Baz's early
years and lack of an arrest record. Judge Rothwax said
that Mr. Baz deserved the most severe punishment and
that the court will recommend against release of this
defendent on parole ever.
There was silence in the court room
as Mr. Baz walked toward a side door, turned his head to
look toward the audience once, and then again, both
times for a long time. He had no expression, and he
seemed to be looking for someone he knew, but there was
apparently no one there for him. Or else, it was to
stare at the Hasidic Jews, who stared back at him across
the rail of the courtroom that separated them.
Hari Halberstam Memorial Site
The Brooklyn
Bridge Shooting
An Independent Review and
Assessment
Yehudit Barsky
Director of the Division on Middle East and International Terrorism
American Jewish Committee
Introduction
This review and assessment examines the murder of
Aaron Halberstam, the 16-year-old rabbinical seminary student who was
murdered in the Brooklyn Bridge shooting that took place on March 1,
1994.
In May 1999, the family of Aaron Halberstam requested
the assistance of the American Jewish Committee to provide an expert
review and assessment of the attack on the Brooklyn Bridge. The purpose
of this document is to provide the Middle Eastern context in which the
attack occurred and an examination of the lessons to be learned from
this incident for U.S. counter-terrorism policy.
There is another measure of justice due to Aaron
Halberstam that goes beyond the conviction of his murderer, Rashid Baz.
That aspect of the incident is its classification as a homicide under
New York State law without a full examination of the Middle Eastern
political context that provided Rashid Baz’s motivation for the March 1,
1994, attack. Moreover, while a determination of motive is not necessary
for the successful prosecution of a murder case, an understanding of the
motive that produced this incident is instrumental in raising the
awareness of government agencies to the potential for the recurrence of
such attacks in the future.
The release of this review and assessment comes at a
time when Jewish communities in the United States and throughout the
world are experiencing a marked increase in attacks against Jewish
institutions as well as individuals as a result of tensions in the
Middle East. These incidents appear to be inspired by recent fatwas -
Islamic religious rulings - calling for holy war, or jihad, against Jews
by the leaders of Islamic extremist movements.
Such leaders include Sheikh ‘Umar Abd Al-Rahman, who
is serving a life sentence for his involvement in the World Trade Center
bombing. Abd Al-Rahman issued a call for attacks against Jews from his
prison cell in the United States, declaring, "I call on Islamic scholars
to play their role and issue a collective fatwa urging the Islamic
nation to fight and kill Jews everywhere.(1)" Other calls for similar
action have come from the Hamas and Hizballah terrorist organizations,
and Al-Muhajirun, a British Islamic extremist organization that has
expressed support for Usama Bin Ladin. Bin Ladin is the leader of Al-Qa’ida,
the terrorist organization considered responsible for the bombings of
the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and is suspected of
involvement in the recent suicide bombing of the USS Cole.
These calls have also emanated from Muslim clerics
appointed by the Palestinian Authority, including Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya,
an official appointee to its "Fatwa Council." Abu Halabiya called upon
worshippers at a sermon that took place on October 13, 2000, to "have no
mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them
where they are. Wherever you meet them, kill them." He concluded, "Allah,
deal with the Jews, your enemies and the enemies of Islam. Deal with the
Crusaders, and America, and Europe behind them, O Lord of the worlds.(2)"
The sermon was broadcast live on Palestinian Authority Television(3).
The similarities between the events of the past six
weeks and the Brooklyn Bridge shooting should serve as a reminder that
statements uttered by the leaders of such movements who cloak themselves
with religious legitimacy have far reaching and, in many cases, almost
immediate effects. It is the responsibility of government officials, law
enforcement agencies and communal leaders to recognize the consequences
of such calls to violence and to be alert to the dangers that are
created by them.
The Incident
The Brooklyn Bridge March 1, 1994 10:30 a.m. Armed
with a Glock 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol and a 9-millimeter
Cobray machine gun, Rashid Baz opened fire three times on a white van
transporting 15 Lubavitch Chasidic rabbinical seminary students. The
attack took place as the students were traveling from Manhattan to
Brooklyn, traversing the southbound ramp of the Brooklyn Bridge. The
young men had just completed a prayer vigil for the spiritual leader of
the Lubavitch Chasidic movement, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who
had undergone cataract surgery earlier that morning at the Manhattan Ear,
Eye and Throat Hospital(4). They were traveling home from the hospital
when the attack occurred.
Shooting out of the passenger window of his car, Baz
initially opened fire with the Cobray machine gun on the students
sitting at the rear windows and right passenger side windows of the
van(5). Holding the gun outside of the driver’s side window(6), Baz
pursued the van across the span of the bridge, and strafed the driver’s
side of the van(7) with machine gun fire until its firing mechanism
jammed(8). Baz then picked up the Glock semi-automatic pistol, the
second weapon that he had placed on the floor of the front seat of his
car. He opened fire for a third time and continued to shoot at the
students until that weapon became jammed as well(9). A third weapon that
Baz had taken with him in the trunk of his car was a 12-gauge
Streetsweeper shotgun that was not used in the attack(10).
Two of the students were gravely injured in the
attack. Aaron Halberstam and Nachum Sasonkin were both shot in the back
of the head during the attack, and two other students were injured. On
March 5, 1994, four days after the attack, Aaron Halberstam died.
Rashid Baz was convicted of murder in the second
degree with intent to cause the death(a) of Aaron Halberstam in the
Supreme Court of the State of New York on December 1, 1994(11). He was
also convicted of fourteen counts of attempted murder in the second
degree with intent to cause death, and criminal use of a firearm in the
first degree. He was sentenced to 141 years in prison(12).
Two other men who assisted Baz in concealing evidence
of the attack were also convicted and sentenced. In a plea bargain,
Bassam Reyati, the owner of the car that Baz was driving, admitted that
he helped Baz conceal evidence by removing the car's shattered
windshield, placing it in the trunk of the car, and leaving the car on
the street near his office. He was convicted of hindering prosecution
and was sentenced to 5 years of probation and a $1000 fine on October
16, 1996(13).
Hilal Abd Al-Aziz Muhammad, the owner of the auto
repair shop that Baz drove to after carrying out the shooting, also
admitted that he helped Baz dispose of evidence connected to the attack.
Muhammad concealed evidence of the shooting by concealing the weapons
used in the attack(14), helping to remove the car's broken windshield,
throwing out shell casings that he swept from the inside of the car, and
calling Bassam Reyati to dispose of the vehicle(15). He was convicted of
hindering prosecution and sentenced to five years of probation on May
17, 1995(16).
(a) According to New York State law, murder in the
second degree is premeditated murder. A charge of first degree murder
would only apply to the murder of a law enforcement officer, a judge, or
murder for hire.
The Middle Eastern Context
According to testimony presented at his trial, Rashid
Baz’s motivation for opening fire on a van of Lubavitch Chasidic
seminary students was an incident that took place in the West Bank town
of Hebron on Friday, February 25, 1994 during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan. On that day, Baruch Goldstein, a Brooklyn born doctor from the
neighboring Israeli town of Kiryat Arba, entered what is known to
Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
He opened fire, killing 29 Muslim worshippers. Goldstein was beaten to
death by the remaining worshippers(17).
The overwhelming reaction throughout the Muslim world
was to call for acts of vengeance against Jews. Within hours of the
incident in Hebron, an address broadcast from a mosque loudspeaker by an
activist from the Palestinian Authority's Fatah organization declared,
'"Oh brothers, we promise not to let this pass. We will declare war
after this aggression.(18)"
On the afternoon that the incident occurred, angry
Muslim worshippers broke out in massive rioting at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The riots were partially considered to
have been incited by a sermon that was given during the prayers that
called for revenge to be taken for the Hebron massacre(19).
For almost three hours, Arab youths threw rocks down
from the Temple Mount onto hundreds of police officers stationed in the
Western Wall Plaza. In an effort to attack Jewish worshippers in the
Western Wall Plaza below, dozens of Arab youths rushed out of the
Mughrabi Gate, which directly leads from the Temple Mount into the
plaza. Israeli Police and Border Guards fired rubber bullets and tear
gas to push them back into the Temple Mount compound. A number of the
youths, many of whom were masked, screamed "Allahu Akhbar," – "God is
Great," climbed on the Temple Mount walls, and from there continued to
throw stones on the policemen stationed below(20).
On the day of the massacre, Abu Muhammad Mustafa, the
Hamas movement’s official representative in Damascus, Syria issued a
statement declaring that the "military wing" of the organization, the Iz
Al-Din Al-Qassam Battalions, "will avenge the Hebron massacre.(21)" A
separate statement from the Al-Qassam Battalions announced: "Very soon
Israel will be in mourning and put up black flags because Iz Al-Din [Al-Qassam]
will strike harder than even the Zionist terrorists can imagine.(22)"
In Beirut, Lebanon, 10,000 Palestinians and
supporters of the Hizballah terror organization demonstrated in the
streets. Officials of Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups led the
demonstration, with Lebanese police acting as escorts. The demonstrators
shouted "Death to America, Death to Israel," and waved Palestinian flags
and raised placards that condemned the massacre. The protestors included
participants from Palestinian refugee camps and Beirut's Shi’i southern
suburbs who are supporters of Hizballah. At the end of the demonstration,
they formed a symbolic funeral procession for the worshippers killed in
the Hebron mosque(23).
In an appeal to Muslims throughout the Arab world,
Iranian state radio broadcast a call to carry out a "jihad operation" -
an act of holy war - through its Arabic language service: "But a single
jihad operation in southern Lebanon or in the occupied territory is
sufficient to teach the Jews many lessons. It will teach them that their
security will always be threatened because security cannot be based on
usurpation, terrorism and the logic of force.(24)"
In Cairo, Egypt, the Islamic extremist Muslim
Brotherhood movement urged Palestinians to retaliate for the attack with
violence(25). The militant Islamic extremist group Gama'a Al-Islamiya –
Islamic Group - stated two days after the incident that its "armed
units" were ordered to carry out attacks for the purpose of avenging the
massacre in Hebron:
We, the Gama'a al-Islamiya, announce that our
military operations from now until the end of the month of Ramadan will
be [carried out] as a dutiful revenge to the martyrs of the Ibrahimi
Mosque and as a modest support to the strugglers of Palestine(26).
The statement continued, "We cannot but order our
armed cells to escalate their holy operations in retaliation and as a
just punishment to Mubarak, the biggest agent of Zionism in the
region.(27)"
The Gama'a Al-Islamiya called on all Islamic
extremist groups in the Middle East, including Hamas, the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad, and Hizballah "to raise their rifles" and take action.
The organization did not indicate as to whether its revenge attacks
would be carried out in Egypt or elsewhere and if Western tourists would
be targets as they had been in the past(28).
A statement issued by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
asserted: "The blood of the people will not be shed for nothing. The
bullets of the Islamic fighters will be our immediate answer to the
Zionists.(29)"
Two then left-wing opponents of the Palestinian
Authority also vowed revenge. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine vowed to
take vengeance for the mosque killings. The statement declared, "We vow
to avenge the killings and to punish the Israeli occupation forces and
the Zionist settlers.(30)"
Immediately following such calls for revenge came a
stabbing attack on a 77-year old British tourist in the center of the
Jordanian capital, Amman, while thousands of angry Palestinians cloaked
in black flags demonstrated to mourn the dead of Hebron. According to
the British Embassy in Amman, the victim, Howard Long, was lightly
wounded. The Jordanian Interior Ministry called on its citizens to show
restraint and announced that his assailant, Khalid Husni Al-Korashi, was
arrested(31).
Initial media reports of the investigation into the
Brooklyn Bridge shooting related Rashid Baz’s version of the incident,
in which he claimed that the shooting was the result of a traffic
dispute. During the trial, however, Baz’s motivation to carry out the
shooting was clearly demonstrated through testimony from his own
psychiatrist indicating that he was enraged(32) over the incident in
Hebron and carried out the shooting as an act of vengeance.
An examination of the Middle Eastern context at the
time of the attack as well as evidence presented at the trial indicates
that Rashid Baz was inspired by and identified with the ideology of
Islamic extremist movements in the Middle East. His behavior and
attitudes prior to the shooting indicate that Baz – born in Lebanon of a
Druze father and a Palestinian Muslim mother(33) - became a convert to
Islam and became inculcated in the Islamic extremist doctrine of jihad,
or holy war, a tenet which does not exist in the Druze religion and is
rejected by mainstream Muslims. His actions on March 1, 1994, were
reflective of the calls for revenge against Jews that were emanating
from the Middle East at that time.
Rashid Baz’s Background
Rashid Baz was born to a relatively well to do family
in Lebanon in 1965(34). Following the shooting on the Brooklyn Bridge,
his father, Najib Baz, who is of Druze background, gave an interview to
the Lebanese newspaper Al-Hayat from the family’s home village of
Ba’azaran outside of Beirut(35). His mother, Suhaila Akel Baz, a
Palestinian, was interviewed by the same newspaper from the family’s
apartment located off Rue Verdun(36) in an exclusive section of the city
known a R’as Beirut(37).
In various interviews with the media, members of the
family insisted that they are Druze and their son, Rashid, was Druze as
well. His father, Najib Baz, insisted, "We are a Druze family. He is
Druze. He never went to a mosque in his life. He likes girls and cars
and sports. I sent him to college in the States in 1984 so that the
militias couldn't make him fight in the war in Lebanon. I sent him there
to keep him out of trouble.(38)"
The Druze originated as a heterodox religious sect
that broke away from Islam in the 11th century(39). The Druze consider
themselves to be a religion separate from Islam and refer to themselves
as "muwahidun," or "Unitarians." A follower of the Druze religion would
therefore never refer to himself as a Muslim. Since their emergence in
the 11th century, members of the Druze religion have been severely
persecuted by both Sunni and Shi’i Muslims who reject their legitimacy
on theological grounds, and consider them to be heretics.
The religious tradition and practices of the Druze do
not have parallels in Islam. For example, the Druze do not have the
equivalent of a house of worship that they attend once a week. Instead,
there are special places for individuals to engage in meditation called
khilawat. Thus, Najib Baz’s insistence that his son never went to a
mosque is not a declaration of his irreligiousity but simply a statement
indicating that Rashid Baz, at least while he was still in Lebanon, was
not a Muslim.
The Druze are a secretive sect and do not permit
conversion to their religion. In contrast to Islamic law, or shari’a,
which stipulates that the child of a mixed marriage inherits the
religion of his father, according to the religious tradition of the
Druze, both parents are required to be of Druze origin in order for a
child to be considered a Druze. Since Baz’s mother is of Palestinian
Muslim origin(40), he was of questionable religious status among the
Druze. Moreover, because his father is Druze, according to Islamic
religious tradition he would not be accepted as a Muslim, either. The
only way for him to be considered a Muslim would be for him to convert
to Islam.
It is therefore not surprising to read a description
of Baz in The New York Times which relates that a Brooklyn neighbor of
his, Halim Haggar, as asking him before his marriage to an American
Christian woman, "What are you Rashid? Catholic? Jewish? Muslim?" He was
answered by Baz, "I don’t know.(41)"
It is also not surprising that an acquaintance of Baz
said of him, "He didn’t even know how to pray." The acquaintance
described taking Baz to a mosque in order to teach him "some basics of
Islam.(42)" And after Baz was arrested, he telephoned a friend of his in
Brooklyn and asked him to bring books about Islam to the prison for him(43).
Although Rashid Baz may have arrived on the shores of
the United States as an individual with a questionable religious status
according the traditions of Lebanon, by September 1992 he appears to
have chosen to identify as a Muslim. On September 4, 1992, he crashed a
borrowed car into the rear end of a car in front of him on the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway near Atlantic Avenue. The driver of the car in front of him
recalled that after the accident Baz got out of his car and declared, "I
am a Muslim.(44)"
In addition to his apparent conversion to Islam, it
appears that Baz came to identify himself as a Palestinian Muslim rather
than a Druze. In Baz’s videotaped confession, he describes himself as
Palestinian on a number of occasions, but specifically refers to his
openly identifying himself as a Palestinian through wearing a
Palestinian keffiyah, or headscarf, around his neck during the Brooklyn
Bridge shooting(45).
Baz became friends with Muafaq Askar, a Palestinian
who worked in a Sunset Park, Brooklyn pizza shop who described Baz as
calling him his "Palestinian uncle.(46)" Askar also described himself as
being Baz’s "one true friend.(47)" It was apparently through Askar’s
friendship with Baz that Baz agreed to attend prayers(48 at Masjid
Mus’ab bin ‘Umayr, the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn.
Vengeance for Hebron
Testimony presented at Baz’s trial in November 1994
clearly demonstrated his motivation for carrying out the attack. Part of
the evidence presented by Baz’s defense attorney included psychiatric
testimony intended to support the notion that the attack on the Brooklyn
Bridge came about as the result of Baz suffering from post-traumatic
stress syndrome, or PTSD. Baz, according to this scenario, suffered from
PTSD from having spent the earlier part of his life in Beirut during the
Lebanese civil war. The attack on the Brooklyn Bridge therefore came
about as the result of a "flashback" that was triggered as the result of
his hearing about the Hebron massacre. During the cross-examination of
Baz’s own psychiatrist, Dr. Douglas Anderson, Baz’s reaction to the
incident in Hebron was revealed: Q. You mentioned earlier the incident
in Hebron, the massacre in Hebron?
Anderson: Yes.
Q. Do you know when that incident was in relation to
the events on the Brooklyn Bridge?
Anderson: That was Friday, February 25th.
Q. That would be some three or four days before the
event on the Brooklyn Bridge?
Anderson: Four days.
Q. In your opinion, Doctor, did the Hebron(49)
incident or Mr. Baz’s reaction to the Hebron incident have any impact on
his state of mind during that time?
Anderson: Yes. It had an enormous impact.
Q. In what way?
Anderson: He was enraged. He was absolutely furious.
He was - - I think Hebron put him from condition yellow to condition
red(50).
Later in the testimony, Anderson further described
Baz as being "as angry as he’s ever been in his life.(51)"
In his videotaped confession, Baz describes himself
as being "upset" over the incident in Hebron, and expresses support for
acts of vengeance:
Q. How upset were you?
Baz: I was upset, but not upset to go do something.
Q. Were you upset to say something?
Baz: To say something?
Q. I mean, did you make comments about it? You know,
about what should be done about that?
Baz: Should be done about that?
Q. Yeah. In other words, did you, when you were
talking to your friends did you express your view of how you - - how you
as - - a Lebanese man from Beirut - -
Baz. [Nods affirmatively.](52)
Q. - - should deal with the situation? Like what had
happened in Lebanon?
Baz: I told them it’s not fair.
Q. Ahum.
Baz: And they should take revenge.
Q. And they should what?
Baz: Take revenge.
Q. That they should take revenge.
Baz: Right.
Q. That who should take revenge?
Baz: The people over there(53).
According to press reports, Bassam Reyati, Rashid
Baz’s employer at the Pioneer Car Service, told investigators that Baz
was "very angry(54)" after the Hebron massacre. Mistakenly referring to
the Hebron incident as "Jerusalem," Reyati related:
When Jerusalem happened, Ray [Rashid] was very angry
and mad. He said we should kill all the Jews who did this. He was always
very short-tempered. Jerusalem [i.e., Hebron] really upset him. He said,
‘We’re supposed to kill all those Jews.(55)'
An "Arab Soldier
Crusader"
Prior to his carrying out the shooting, Baz visited
the pizza shop where his Palestinian friend Muafaq Askar worked. A
conversation ensued about the events in Hebron, and Askar expressed the
view that he would be eager to "make jihad," or holy war against the
Israelis(56). Baz later accompanied Askar to the mosque, where they
heard a sermon relating to the incident in Hebron. In the following
excerpt from the trial testimony, Dr. Anderson relates Muafaq Askar’s
description of Baz’s state of mind on February 25, the date of the
Hebron massacre:
Q. Now, you spoke to Muafaq, the defendant’s friend
at the pizza place?
Anderson: Yes.(57) . . .
Q. And Moufaq described for you the events which
occurred on February 25th at the pizza parlor concerning the report of
the Hebron incident. Is that correct(58)?
Anderson: Yes, it is correct.
Q. What was your accounting, your own version of the
emotions that the defendant felt at the time, upon learning that?
Anderson: Well, he was furious, he was terribly upset.
Q. In fact, Muafaq describes it like sparks were
flashing from his eyes?
Anderson: That’s what he said.
Q. And this was a terrible rage that he was
experiencing at what this bearded Jewish doctor from Brooklyn had done
to his fellow Moslems in the mosque in Hebron?
Anderson: He had never seen him before, Baz, being
that angry before.
Q. All right. And what did Moufaq tell you what they
did then?
Anderson: They went to the mosque.
Following their conversation in the pizza shop, Baz
accompanied Askar to the mosque at Islamic Society of Bay Ridge(b). At
the mosque, they heard a sermon that was similar to statements being
made in the Middle East on that same day:
Q. And at the mosque they heard an Imam or a
religious leader, a Moslem religious leader speak. Is that correct?
Anderson: That is correct.
Q. Now, just before the defendant had said in
response to hearing about Hebron(59), "They did it. The bastards did it."
Anderson: That is right.
Q. And then he went to the mosque and according to
Moufaq he heard the Imam say that "this takes the mask off of the Jews.
It shows them to be racist and fascist as bad as the Nazis. Palestinians
are suffering from the occupation and it’s time to end it." Isn’t that
what Moufaq told you the Imam said while he and the defendant were in
the audience in that mosque?
Anderson: Yes(60).
Later in the testimony, Baz’s psychiatrist describes
him as asserting that all Arabs and Muslims should feel the same way
about the Hebron incident, and told him that the distinction between
Israelis and all other Jews, including American Jews, had become
blurred:
Q. Now Doctor, didn’t the defendant tell you that all
Arabs and Moslems should feel the same?
Anderson: Yes.
Q. Didn’t he tell you that after hearing about what
happened at Hebron that the distinction between Israelis and all other
Jews, including American Jews, became blurred for him?
Anderson: Yes.
Despite Baz’s statement that he felt that revenge for
the incident should be taken in the Middle East, after he heard the
Imam’s sermon he took two of the guns that he usually kept in the trunk
of his car and moved them to the front seat of his car. The two guns
were the weapons that he used in the shooting.
Q. And didn’t he tell you that after hearing that,
hearing the Imam, he went to his taxi cab and he moved the machine gun
from the trunk of that cab into the front seat of the car?
A. I don’t know exactly what point of time it was,
but it was after Hebron and before March 1(61).
Anderson went on to describe Baz’s arsenal of weapons
and his preparation for the shooting. In contrast to his usual routine
in which he simply carried a pistol to protect himself, on that occasion
Baz equipped himself with the Glock semi-automatic pistol, the Cobray
machine gun – referred to in the trial transcript as an "Uzi," and a
12-gauge Streetsweeper. Baz’s choice of these weapons indicated his
intent to carry out a very serious attack. The fact that Baz moved this
array of high-powered weapons from the trunk of his car to under the
front seat of his car also reveals that the attack on the Brooklyn
Bridge was a premeditated one. According to Dr. Anderson, Baz’s
preparation for the attack was consistent with his view of himself as an
"Arab soldier crusader:"
Anderson: Before Hebron he had a pistol under his
seat, which is probably not uncommon for gypsy cab drivers in New York
City. And he also had a fully automatic pistol, an Uzi(c) I think it was,
in his trunk.
Q. Now, that would be consistent with his identity as
an Arab soldier crusader.
Anderson: After Hebron he told me that he moved the
Uzi from the trunk to under the seat along with the semi-automatic
pistol, so he was well armed for combat by March 1st.(62)
Additional testimony indicates that Baz viewed
himself as a mujahid, or one who carries out jihad - holy war, according
to the ideology of Islamic extremist movements. Lacking the terminology
employed by Muslim extremists to describe this concept, Baz’s
psychiatrist describes him in Western terms as thinking of himself as an
"Arab soldier crusader":
Q. In addition you yourself described the defendant’s
self-perception as being that of an Arab crusader?
Anderson: Yes.
Q. Or an Arab soldier crusader?(63)
Anderson: Yes.
Q. In fact, the defendant, you had been shown a poem
which the defendant wrote concerning an Arab crusader, a poem in Arabic.
Isn’t that correct?
Anderson: It was a poem from and about the Crusades
back in the Middle Ages.
Q. And about being a hero in the Crusades?
Anderson: I don’t know the poem but I‘m told it’s a
heroic, heroic poem.
Q. About going off and fighting the infidels?
Anderson: Yes.(64) (b)On May 24, 1998 the Islamic
Society of Bay Ridge was among the co-sponsors of a program held at
Brooklyn College entitled "Palestine – 50 Years of Occupation" where
anIslamic extremist cleric from Egypt, Sheikh Wagdi Ghuneim, gave an
anti-Jewish sermon. Speaking in Arabic he declared, "The Jews distort
words from their meanings . . . They killed prophets and worshipped
idols." He continued, "The Prophet [Muhammad] said: ‘The Jews will not
cease to hate you [Muslims], ever, ever." Ghuneim went on to teach a
song to the assembled participants that included the lyrics, "No to the
Jews, the descendants of the apes. We vow to return [to Palestine]
despite the obstacles." Ghuneim also exhorted the crowd to support jihad,
declaring, "Allah says he who equips the warrior of jihad is like the
one who makes jihad himself." (The Forward, August 7, 1998) Pro-Hamas
literature was offered for sale at the event. ("Hate Speech in Brooklyn,"
The New York Post, July 30, 1998) The organization that held the event
was the Islamic Association for Palestine. (IAP: "50 Years of Occupation,"
New York Evening Program, Muslim Students’ Association News, May 23,
1998) The Islamic Association for Palestine is a group that has
distributed Hamas literature in the United States.
(c) Anderson refers here to the Cobray machine gun,
which is similar to an Uzi.
An
Act of Terrorism
While Rashid Baz’s ties to a known terrorist group
have not been established, his act nevertheless was an act of terrorism
- violence carried out against civilians for the purpose of making a
political statement or of furthering a political goal. It is clear that
Baz subscribed to the ideology of Islamic extremist movements that
promote the concept of violent acts as the expression of their war
against Israel and the United States, and in his particular case, he
selected Jewish civilians as his target. In Assistant District Attorney
Armand Durastanti’s words:
All of these things culminated on the morning of
March 1 with the defendant committing an act which, based on the
psychiatric testimony that we’ve heard in this case, can only be
considered as an act of terrorism; insofar as what appears to be clear
is that the defendant targeted these youths, targeted innocent civilians
to make what was in essence a political statement. In this case, the
political statement based on the political situation in the Middle East,
which, as we heard from the defense psychiatrist, the defendant has
always deeply personalized(65).
And more particularly on the events that had occurred
three or four days earlier in Hebron, where a Jewish settler from
Brooklyn had killed a number of Arabs praying at a mosque. It seems
clear that the defendant targeted these boys because they were obviously
Jewish (66).
Ten days after the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, the
Hamas movement in Gaza(67) released a communiqué praising Rashid Baz’s
attack on the van. With great pride the movement embraced his act and
bestowed upon him the title of mujahid, a holy warrior and ibn Islam, a
son of Islam, meaning one who serves as a role model and inspiration to
others:
We will retain the cry of condemnation on your heads
and our hand is backed by millions of Muslim hands that are ready to
carry out their execution role against Jews.(68)
The communiqué continued:
Only Islam is the legitimate and exclusive
representation of our people and its predicament; and the living proof
of this is namely the holy warrior and Lebanese immigrant Rashid Al-Baz,
the son of Islam who took action against the souls of the evil dregs of
the Jews in Brooklyn in America. His deed proclaims that you [i.e., the
Jews ] do not have the ability to tear Palestine away from our hearts,
may a curse be on your heads.(69)
Although Rashid Baz’s act of terrorism was clearly
based on his desire to act as a mujahid to avenge the victims of Hebron,
the Brooklyn Bridge shooting has never been recognized as such an act.
While the case has erroneously been characterized as stemming from "road
rage," the context in which Baz acted demonstrates the need for the
record to be corrected.
As result, over the last six years, the Halberstam
family has made efforts to have the case investigated at the Federal
level to determine whether any additional charges, including possible
civil rights violations, may have been committed by Rashid Baz or by
others. The Halberstam family has requested that the attack be re-classified
as an act of terrorism as well. The case was reopened in August 1999 and
is still pending.
Seen in the light of its Middle Eastern context,
Rashid Baz’s act of terrorism should be understood as an attack to
undermine the fabric of our society. There can never be any
justification for anti-Jewish violence or violence directed at any other
minority. Islamic extremists who call for acts of violence against Jews
make those pronouncements with the intent that their calls will be taken
seriously and that such manifestations of their "holy war" will be
carried out worldwide, either by their own followers or admirers of
their movements. They also hope that they will succeed in not being held
responsible for such pronouncements. The responsibility of governments,
law enforcement agencies and community leaders is to take them at their
word and to recognize the dangers that are created by such calls to
commit acts of terror.
Endnotes
1)"Egyptian Militant Urges All Muslims to Kill Jews,"
Jerusalem Post, October 6, 2000.
2)"Palestinian Authority TV Broadcasts Call for
Killing Jews and Americans," Middle East Media and Research Institute,
Special Dispatch – PA - No. 138, October 14, 2000.
3)"A Parallel Mideast Battle: Is It News or
Incitement?," New York Times, October 24, 2000.
4)"Terror on the Brooklyn Bridge," The New York
Jewish Week, March 10, 1994.
5)People of the State of New York vs. Rashid Baz,
2463:2-3.
6)People vs. Baz, 2463:7-9.
7)People vs. Baz, 2467:12-19.
8)People vs. Baz, 2472:12-14.
9)People vs. Baz, 2472:14-17.
10)People vs. Baz, 2472:23-24.
11)Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of
New York, People of the State of New York vs. Rashid Baz, Part 31/56,
1872-94, Sentence, January 18, 1995, 24: 17-21.
12)Ibid. 24: 22-25, 25:1-18.
13)"Man Is Sentenced in the Hiding Of Evidence in
Terrorist Slaying," New York Times, October 17, 1996.
15)"Mother of Slain Student Assails Deportation
Delay," New York Times, March 5, 1997.
16)"Man Is Sentenced in the Hiding Of Evidence in
Terrorist Slaying," New York Times, October 17, 1996.
17)"Rabin warned of violence at holy site before
massacre: radio," Agence France Presse, March 20, 1994.
18)"Ramadan Friday of death, sorrow for
Palestinians," United Press International, February 25, 1994.
19)"Rioting breaks out on Temple Mount after
massacre," The Jerusalem Post, February 27, 1994.
20) "Rioting breaks out on Temple Mount after
massacre," The Jerusalem Post, February 27, 1994.
21)"Hebron massacre gains Arafat sympathy of outside
world and wrath of his Palestinian detractors," Mideast Mirror, February
25, 1994.
22)"Islamic Militants Threaten To Kill More Jews To
Avenge Mosque Deaths," AFX News February 25, 1994.
23)"Palestinians Protest Hebron Massacre, Arafat's
Peaceful Drive," United Press International, February 28, 1994.
24)"Radio commentary in Arabic says single jihad
action will teach Jews many lessons," Voice of the Islamic Republic of
Iran external service, Tehran, in Arabic 1730 GMT, February 26, 1994, in
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, February 28, 1994.
25)"Egyptian Extremists Condemn Mosque Attack,"
United Press International, February 26, 1994.
26)"After the Hebron bloodbath: Open season on Israel
and the U.S.," Mideast Mirror, February 28, 1994.
27)"After the Hebron bloodbath: Open season on Israel
and the U.S.," Mideast Mirror, February 28, 1994.
28)"After the Hebron bloodbath: Open season on Israel
and the U.S.," Mideast Mirror, February 28, 1994.
29)"Islamic Militants Threaten To Kill More Jews To
Avenge Mosque Deaths," AFX News February 25, 1994.
30)"Hebron massacre gains Arafat sympathy of outside
world and wrath of his Palestinian detractors," Mideast Mirror, February
25, 1994.
31)"Hebron massacre gains Arafat sympathy of outside
world and wrath of his Palestinian detractors," Mideast Mirror, February
25, 1994.
32)Baz’s psychiatrist testified, "He was enraged. He
was absolutely furious. He was - - I think Hebron put him from condition
yellow to condition red." People of the State of New York vs. Rashid
Baz, 1967: 6-8. Nuha Abudabbeh, Baz’s Palestinian psychiatrist,
described him as being "very angry over the events that had occurred in
Hebron." Ibid, 1860: 22-25.
33)"Complex Picture is Emerging of Suspect in Van
Shootings," New York Times, March 4, 1994.
34)People of the State of New York vs. Rashid Baz,
2542: 9-15.
35)Al-Hayat, March 6, 1994.
36)Al-Hayat, March 6, 1994.
37)Interviews with two former residents of Beirut,
September 26 and 28, 1999. According to both interviewees, prior to the
civil war, Rue Verdun was considered the "Fifth Avenue" of the city.
38)"'Terrorist' Son Leaves Parents Bewildered;" The
Independent (London), March 7, 1994.
39)"Druzes," Cyril Glasse, Concise Encyclopedia of
Islam, London: Harper, Row, and Publishers, 1989, p. 103-104.
40)"Complex Picture is Emerging of Suspect in Van
Shootings," New York Times, March 4, 1994.
41)"’What Are You, Rashid?’" New York Times, March
14, 1994.
42)"’What Are You, Rashid?’" New York Times, March
14, 1994.
43)"’What Are You, Rashid?’" New York Times, March
14, 1994.
44)"’What Are You, Rashid?’" New York Times, March
14, 1994.
45)According to the transcript of the videotaped
confession Baz says: "And they could tell I’m Palestinian, because -- "
Q: -- "okay. Because you had the scarf on." People vs. Baz, 124:12-14.
46)"Indistinct Picture of Shooting Suspect, New York
Times, March 4, 1994.
47)"Indistinct Picture of Shooting Suspect, New York
Times, March 4, 1994.
48)"Indistinct Picture of Shooting Suspect, New York
Times, March 4, 1994.
49)People vs. Baz, 1967:15-25.
50)Ibid, 1968: 2-8.
51)Ibid. 1968: 21.
52)Ibid, 131:4-25.
53)Ibid, 132: 1-11.
54)"New Focus on Motives Focus in Killing on Bridge,"
New York Times, April 7, 1994.
55)"New Focus on Motives Focus in Killing on Bridge,"
New York Times, April 7, 1994.
56)"Indistinct Picture of Shooting Suspect, New York
Times, March 4, 1994.
57)People vs. Baz, 2107: 16-18.
58)Ibid. 2107: 22-25.
59)Ibid, 2108: 2-25.
60)Ibid. 2108:2-19.
61)Ibid, 2110: 19-25.
62)Ibid, 1975: 2-12.
63)Ibid,2106: 21-25.
64)Ibid. 2107: 2-14.
65)Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of
New York, People of the State of New York vs. Rashid Baz, Part 31/56,
1872-94, Sentence, January 18, 1995, 6: 13-25.
66)Ibid. 7: 1-5.
67)"Hamas Issues Veiled Warning on Revenge," Kol
Yisrael (Voice of Israel Radio) in English, 1600 GMT, March 11, 1994 in
Foreign Broadcast Information Service – Near East and South Asia, March
15, 1994.
68)"Islamic Militants Threaten Revenge in Brooklyn,"
Associated Press, March 11, 1994.
69)"Islamic Militants Threaten Revenge in Brooklyn,"
Associated Press, March 11, 1994.
