Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem said tonight that the shooting on the Temple Mount this morning was the act of a madman but predicted that some would use the tragic incident against Israel. Two persons were killed and four were wounded.
“I am very sorry that we have small, very extreme groups, who, by the atmosphere they create, will enable the world to identify the Jewish people–which is entirely opposed to this kind of thing — as bearing some responsibility,” Kollek said. He stressed that “We had all these years guarded the (Moslem) holy places with the utmost care. Never has anything happened in 15 years, but mad things do happen,” he said.
Israel’s Ashkenazic and Sephardic Chief Rabbis, Shlomo Goren and Ovadia Yosef, both condemned the Temple Mount attack tonight as a “hideous crime.” The shooting of innocent people desecrated the spot that is “holiest for the Jewish people” they said, and by so doing, the perpetrator removed himself from the Jewish people.
IDENTITY IN DOUBT
Meanwhile, conflicting versions emerged tonight over the identity and background of the assailant. Police sources originally said he was Elliot Guttman, 30, who is married and who immigrated from the U.S. six years ago. According to Interior Ministry sources, quoted by Kol Israel Radio tonight, his name is Allan Harry Goodman. He is a 38-year-old bachelor from New Jersey and immigrated to Israel only 13 months ago.
According to those sources, Goodman first arrived in Israel on August 8, 1977 on a tourist visa and changed to immigrant status shortly afterwards. He studied Hebrew at the Etzion ulpon in Jerusalem in January 1978 but quit two months later after being involved in fights. The ulpon manager reportedly described him as a “loner” and a “very problematic person.” He returned to the U.S. but was back in Israel as an immigrant last year.
The Absorption Ministry said Goodmon immigrated in 1977 and later displayed a certificate of marriage to an American woman. According to Ministry officials he tried unsuccessfully to Join several kibbutzim and in 1977 registered as a student at a yeshiva in Raonana. Police meanwhile refused to release further details and would not confirm the man’s name.
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