Meir Kahane Park, Public park in Kiryat Arba, Israel.
Meir Kahane Park is a public park on Caleb Ben Yefuneh Boulevard in Kiryat Arba. It holds a memorial stone inscribed in Hebrew for Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was killed in New York in 1990. Baruch Goldstein, who founded the park, is buried behind it.
Baruch Goldstein, a Kiryat Arba resident and follower of Meir Kahane, established the park in 1990 after Kahane was shot dead in New York. Goldstein himself was killed in 1994 after opening fire on worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron; he was buried behind the park, and a memorial beside his grave drew pilgrims. In 1998 the Knesset passed a law banning memorials to perpetrators of terrorism, and in February 1999 the army demolished the monument.
Right-wing activists gather near the grave behind the park every year on Purim to read the Book of Esther and hold a hillula for Baruch Goldstein. Security forces close the area by order, so the gathering takes place a short distance from the grave. In 2008 the Supreme Court rejected Noam Federman's petition to hold the hillula at the grave itself.
The park lies on Caleb Ben Yefuneh Boulevard in Kiryat Arba, with Baruch Goldstein's grave behind it; his memorial was demolished by the IDF in February 1999. Each year at Purim security forces close the area by order, so the hillula for Goldstein is held a short distance from the grave. Visits by outside groups are best timed outside that period.
The memorial stone prompted a notable legal response in 1998 from the country's parliament. This legislative action addressed controversial commemorations and their legal standing in the nation's governance.
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