Brooklyn Bridge Gunman Admits Targeting Jews

By Forward Staff March 26, 2012

The gunman who opened fire on a van filled with ultra-Orthodox Jews on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994 has reportedly finally admitted he wanted to kill Jews.

After years of spinning excuses, Rashid Baz told investigators he fired on the van, killing 16-year-old Ari Halberstam, on March 1, 1994 to avenge Israeli actions against the Palestinians, the New York Post reported.

Baz, a livery cab driver, denied that anti-Semitism was a motive and claimed he suffered from post-traumatic stress from growing up during the Lebanese civil war. A jury rejected that claim. He was convicted and is serving 141 years in prison.

In 2007, Baz finally confessed to the real reason for the attack, saying he followed the van filled with Jewish students because of an earlier West Bank attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinians.

Asked if he would have shot at a van of black or Latino people, Baz replied, “No, I only shot them because they were Jewish,” the paper said, without elaborating.

A ramp to the bridge was later renamed in memory of Halberstam.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/killer_jews_my_target_gOgyDs9rPP92Z5irIUqK1H#ixzz1qESfx89w

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