Two years ago in October 2014, the Braun’s were on their way home from their first visit to the Kotel, the Western Wall, with their baby, Chaya Zissel when Hamas terrorist Abdel Rahman Shaludi intentionally drove his car onto the light-rail tracks. Chana and Shmuel Braun were getting off the train with their baby daughter when Shaludi’s vehicle struck the baby’s stroller, throwing her 10 meters into the air before she landed head first on the pavement while her mother screamed in horror. She was pronounced dead some two hours later.
Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, head of The Israel Law Center-Shurat HaDin, filed a lawsuit – Braun, et al v. Islamic Republic of Iran, et al, in the District of Columbia District Court on behalf of Braun’s parents and grandparents, in line with the terrorism exception to the foreign sovereign immunities act.
The lawsuit describes how the driver intentionally ploughed into the crowded light rail station with the intention of murder. It also showed how Iran and Syria had provided material support to the Hamas terror organization, which perpetrated the attack. The attack also killed Karen Mosquera, 22, and badly injured Chaya Zissel’s father. Hamas publicly praised the attack, calling the terrorist a “martyr” and “son” of Hamas.
The baby’s family won a stunning $178,500,000 US court judgment against Iran and Syria in January. The Court found that the attack was carried out by Hamas, and that both Iran and Syria were liable to the plaintiffs on the basis of the massive material support they had provided to the terrorist organization over the years. It awarded damages to Chana and Shmuel Braun as representatives of the estate of Chaya Zissel Braun as well as for their own injuries. The Court also awarded damages to the parents of Chana and Shmuel Braun for their mental anguish resulting from their children being targeted in a terror attack.
The baby that was murdered, Chaya Zissel Braun was a US citizen living in Israel at the time of her murder. Her parents waited for her a long time after their marriage and three months afterward an evil terrorist murdered her.
Nitsana Darshan Leitner vowed that she with her organization will “relentlessly pursue the Islamic Republic and Syria through all legal avenues in order to ensure that these judgments are enforced and that the terror victims achieve a measure of justice.” She stated that “the criminal regimes in Tehran and Damascus are the biggest state sponsors of terrorism is the world. This judgment sends a clear message that there is a very heavy price to be paid for financing terrorism and spilling innocent blood in the streets of Jerusalem.”