Monsey mom's baby killed at Jerusalem train station

JERUSALEM – A Monsey-raised woman and her husband tried for at least three years to have a child before their daughter, Chaya Zissel Braun, came into the world three months ago, friends in Rockland told The Journal News on Thursday.

Joy turned to horror Wednesday when the infant was killed when a man described as a convicted Palestinian terrorist drove a car into a crowd of people at a train station in East Jerusalem, hitting the baby's stroller.

"My senses are numb," said Rockland County Legislator Aron Wieder, D-Spring Valley, who knows the child's family. "When you have a young couple who for ... years tried to bring in a beautiful child into this world and nourish and cherish this child, this happens.... I literally cry with them."

"They took the child to the Wailing Wall for the first time," he told the Journal News. "The father was pushing her in the stroller. My thoughts and prayers are with the family."

The parents, Chana and Shmuel Braun, had moved from the United States to Israel within the past few years. They were injured in the crash along with seven others, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said.

Chaya Zissel Braun died at a hospital.

The child's grandmother was flying home and didn't know about her granddaughter's death until after her plane landed, he said. The child's Monsey grandfather, who was in Israel, issued statement to Channel 2 TV:

"She is a pure baby girl who hasn't done anything bad to anyone," Shimshon Halperin said. "She was murdered for no reason."

The family buried the baby Wednesday night following Jewish tradition – a plain wood coffin and within 24 hours of death.

Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, D-Harrison, who represents Rockland County, said in a statement: "Our hearts are completely broken by yesterday's terrorist attack in Jerusalem that killed Chaya Zissel Braun. Such indiscriminate hatred and targeted violence against innocent civilians, including this three-month-old baby girl with family right here in Rockland County, shocks the conscience and must be universally condemned."

Violent attacks in Israel have claimed the lives of other people with ties to Rockland.

• In August 2003, a New Square mother and her 5-month-old son were among 20 people killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Goldie Taubenfeld was the mother of 13 children. She and son Shmuel were visiting for a relative's wedding. Three-year-old Tehilla Nathanson, whose mother was from Monsey, also was killed in the blast.

• In 1995, Alisa Flatow was killed in a terror attack on a bus while traveling to the beach in Israel. A Bergen County, N.J., resident, Flatow attended the Frisch School in Paramus and had had friends in Monsey. Her father, attorney Stephen Flatow, won a lawsuit ordering the government of Iran to pay $247.5 million in damages.

Wednesday's crash occurred at a train station near the national headquarters of Israel's police force.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said footage captured by security cameras indicated the driver deliberately struck people waiting at the stop.

"We look at this incident as a terrorist attack," Rosenfeld said.

The car's driver, identified as Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi, was a Palestinian from east Jerusalem who had served time in prison for militant activities. He was shot by police as he tried to run away and later died from his wounds.

Aaron Troodler, a political consultant who is active in the Rockland Jewish community, said the "terrorist attack is a stark reminder that Israel's enemies will stop at nothing in their relentless quest to wreak havoc on innocent civilians in the Jewish State."

He added, "Targeting innocent men, women, and young children is an abominable and intolerable practice that demonstrates a callous disregard for human life."

Michael Koplen, a New Hempstead attorney who once served with Israel's military, said Hamas leaders made matters worse by praising the driver as a hero.

"There are no words adequate to express the grief and pain caused by the murder of an innocent 3-month-old baby," he said.

Yossi Gestetner, a co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council in Rockland, said the "pain of these pre-mediated terror acts are indescribable. ... The Jewish Community in Rockland is once again shaken and saddened."

Wednesday's violence came after months of tensions between Jews and Palestinians in East Jerusalem — the section of the city the Palestinians demand as their future capital. The area has experienced unrest and near-daily attacks on the city's light rail by Palestinian youths since a wave of violence over the summer, capped by a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The Associated Press contributed information for this report.