An October 1995 article in New York Magazine referred to Hecht as the rabbi who "sentenced" Yitzak Rabin to death, and quoted Hecht as praising Israeli mass murderer and American expatriate Baruch Goldstein, as "a great man, a holy man". At the time, Hecht was a senior rabbi of Congregation Shaare Zion in Brooklyn, the largest Sephardic Jewish congregation in the U.S.
In October 1995, an article in New York Magazine referred to Hecht as the rabbi who "condemned" Yitzak Rabin to death and quoted him praising Baruch Goldstein. At that time, Hecht was a senior rabbi of Congregation Shaare Zion in Brooklyn, which is the largest Sephardic Jewish congregation in the U.S.