When Magen David Adom senior paramedic Ziad Dawiyat answered a call to assist a woman in advanced labor last Sunday in Jerusalem, the father who answered the door immediately recognized the number 12 on the ambulance Dawiyat had just parked in front of the apartment house.
It was in that ambulance that Dawiyat, an Arab-Israeli, had transported Chana and Shmuel Braun’s three-month-old infant Chaya Zissel after she was fatally injured last October when terrorist Abdel-Rahman Shaludeh plowed his car into her stroller on the platform of a Jerusalem light-rail station.
In a statement released after he helped deliver a baby girl to Chana Braun at home on August 9, Dawiyat said he couldn’t understand why Shmuel Braun became very emotional upon seeing the ambulance. “Meanwhile I could see a woman who was about to give birth. I went into the house and helped her, and after helping her to recover, the story came out.”
After giving birth, Chana Braun recognized Dawiyat as the same paramedic who had tried to save her firstborn nearly 10 months earlier.
“I didn’t know what to do or say — to wish them congratulations or give them my condolences.”
“She thanked me, and while I was preparing to give her an IV, the husband hugged and kissed me — it was very emotional,” Dawiyat said. “Shmuel told me that whenever he sees the number 12, he remembers his daughter, and prays that he will be spared further suffering.
“I didn’t know what to do or say — to wish them congratulations or give them my condolences,” he continued. “I was very moved, so I just wished them mazal tov and a long and peaceful life. I would have never imagined even in my dreams that I would be able to come full circle with the Brauns, but it’s a small world.”
“We thank the Almighty for everything and for giving us a daughter today,” Shmuel Braun told the press after Dawiyat transported the Brauns to Jerusalem’s Bikkur Cholim hospital, where mother and baby were doing fine. “I want to thank Ziad and the entire MDA staff who prove time and again they are available to save lives and assist anyone in need.”
Dawiyat said that he and the Brauns plan to keep in touch.