Nearly 30 years on, the terrorist murder of Ari Halberstam demands a full accounting

As a federal jury in Pittsburgh considers the sentencing of the terrorist responsible for the worst act of antisemitic violence in U.S. history, our thoughts turn to another horrific and still partially unsolved act of antisemitic violence that took place right here in New York City — the 1994 terrorist assault on a van filled with Jewish yeshiva students as it crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.

At that time in our nation’s history, the shooting on March 1, 1994, which killed Devorah’s son Ari Halberstam, 16, and left several other students gravely wounded, was considered one of the most serious acts of antisemitic violence in our country’s history. It was the first time a terrorist, armed with multiple weapons and infected with wildly antisemitic notions, had intentionally sought to kill a large group of Jews in broad daylight.

As such, we have never forgotten this heinous and unconscionable act of terrorism against the Jewish community. On that day, this mother lost a beloved son. The safety and security of the American Jewish community was challenged. We all woke up to the reality that antisemitism of the deadliest variety — the unbridled hate that pursued and haunted Jews for millennia overseas — now had reached America’s shores.

The two of us are united in our resolve to not let this terrorist attack pass as a forgotten chapter in the American Jewish experience. Nor are we willing to accept that the shooter acted alone. That is why Devorah continues to pursue justice in the death of a son and his many companions; and Jonathan, the head of ADL, has resolved to continue to pursue justice in this brazen act of antisemitic terrorism.

That means identifying anyone who may have been involved as a co-conspirator. This is why ADL recently announced a new reward of $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any persons who rendered criminal assistance in the murder of Devorah’s son and the attempted murder of the 14 other youngsters who were with Ari that day.

While nearly 30 years have passed, we believe that no stone should be left unturned in the search for justice for Ari and the other victims.

The facts of the shooting itself by now are well known. Devorah’s son, Ari, of blessed memory, was riding in a van with his fellow yeshiva students when the terrorist drove up alongside the van and struck. In a brazen daylight assault, a Lebanese-born terrorist, Rashid Baz, opened fire with a machine gun and a second weapon, spraying the van with bullets.

Testimony at the trial revealed Baz intentionally targeted Jews after becoming “enraged” and “absolutely furious” following the massacre of 29 Palestinian worshipers in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, carried out by the Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein.

During the trial, the defense claimed the shooting was prompted by a traffic dispute and that Baz was legally insane. But the evidence clearly showed otherwise, and Baz was sentenced to 141 years in prison. In a jailhouse interview years later, the killer finally admitted he had intentionally targeted Jews.

As in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue attack, which was the work of an avowed white supremacist, we know the death of Ari Halberstam and the attempted murder of his 14 companions was indisputably an antisemitic terrorist attack and a hate crime. This episode has since been rightfully classified as a terrorist attack by the Justice Department and the FBI.

We greatly appreciate the federal government’s longstanding efforts to seek justice in the case. But it is simply not credible that there was only one person behind this attack. Terrorist attacks like this do not happen in a vacuum. In the Pittsburgh attack, the shooter took encouragement from antisemitic and anti-immigrant writings he was exposed to online. In this case, many questions remain: How did he obtain the three fully-loaded weapons that he had with him? Who helped him to hide the evidence and to escape? Why did he refuse to name names, when he admitted to the authorities that he planned this assault?

Due to Baz’s death in prison last year, we no longer can rely on the potential for him to divulge new information. So we are continuing to work closely together with law enforcement to exhaust any potential leads.

With law enforcement’s help, we are hopeful that not just Baz, but all the perpetrators of this horrific terrorist attack can finally be brought to justice.

Halberstam is the chair of the NYPD’s Civilian Hate Crime Review Panel. Greenblatt is CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League.