MK Yoni Chetboun
MK Yoni ChetbounIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Last Friday, MK Yoni Chetboun (Jewish Home) paid a condolence visit to the Braun family on Sorotzkin Street in Jerusalem. Their daughter, Chaya Zisel, was killed in a terror attack at Givat Hatachmoshet (Ammunition Hill) Light Rail station Wednesday night. 

Chaya Zisel was murdered shortly after returning with her parents from the Western Wall.

"I pointed to the Temple Mount and told Chaya Zisel that this was where Isaac, the only child of his mother Sarah, was willing to give his life as a martyr," the emotional father told Chetboun. "I also gave my only daughter."

Towards the end of the visit, Chaya Zisel's father, Samuel Elimelech Braun, asked to show MK Chetboun an image showing him, with his daughter on his lap, as he studied Torah.

"I beg you," Braun said to Chetboun, "Do not underestimate those who study Torah. Watch over them."

Chetboun replied, "Things that came from the heart, enter the heart. I will work with all my power to increase the budgets for Yeshivot and to strengthen their status [in Israel]." 

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich (Yisrael Beytenu) also paid a shiva (condolence) call Friday morning, stating: "There are no words I can say to comfort a young couple who have lost their innocent little daughter."

Chetboun addressed the growing tension in Jerusalem, making clear that "the unbelievable ease with which terror attacks take place in Jerusalem must stop."

He continued, "We must bring back our ability to deter such attacks. It is impossible to deter without holding sovereignty. But we cannot be sovereign without building in Jerusalem, in both the east and the west. Jews should live anywhere in Jerusalem without terror or fear."

Several other Knesset members have echoed his statements and vented frustration over the growing violence and deteriorating situation in Jerusalem, particularly after the attack that killed Braun. 

Chetboun concluded by welcoming the police reinforcement in the capital and said, "This is a first step pledging a restoration of sovereignty and security."