Iran Ordered to Pay $178 Million for Financing Murder of Israeli Infant

“This judgement 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,” said Darshan-Leitner on the ruling against Iran.

The family of a three-month-old baby girl, Chaya Zissel Braun, who was murdered in a Palestinian car-terror attack on Jerusalem’s light rail in October 2014, won a stunning $178,500,000 US court judgment against Iran and Syria in January.

Iran and Syria had provided material support to the Hamas terror organization, which perpetrated the attack.

The lawsuit – Braun, et al v. Islamic Republic of Iran, et al – was filed in the District of Columbia District Court by the Israel Law Center- Shurat HaDin on behalf of Braun’s parents and grandparents, pursuant to the terrorism exception to the foreign sovereign immunities act.

The lawsuit details how Hamas terrorist Abdel Rahman Shaludi intentionally drove his car onto the light-rail tracks when Chana and Shmuel Braun were getting off the train with their baby daughter and rammed his vehicle into the crowd of pedestrians.

The Brauns were on their way home from their first visit to the Kotel, the Western Wall, with their baby when the car struck. Shaludi’s vehicle struck the baby’s stroller, causing her to be thrown some 10 meters into the air before landing on her head on the pavement while her mother screamed in horror. She was pronounced dead some two hours later.

The terror attack also claimed the life of Karen Mosquera, 22, and badly injured Chaya Zissel’s father.

Hamas publicly praised the attack, referring to the terrorist as a “martyr” and ”son” of Hamas.

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.

Braun was a US citizen living in Israel at the time of her murder. She was the long-awaited and beloved daughter of her young parents who had finally conceived a child after trying for quite some time since their marriage.

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, head of Shurat HaDin, stated that “the criminal regimes in Tehran and Damascus are the biggest state sponsors of terrorism is the world. This judgement 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.”

She vowed that her organization will “relentlessly pursue the Islamic Republic and Syria through all legal avenues in order to ensure that these judgements are enforced and that the terror victims achieve a measure of justice.”

By: United with Israel Staff