A photo of Rena Ariel with her daughter, Hallel, before Hallel was brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist. Photo: Courtesy Adam Propp.

The mother of a 13-year-old Israeli girl who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist earlier this summer told The Algemeiner on Thursday that her grief over her daughter’s death has only grown stronger with time.

Rena Ariel — whose daughter Hallel was stabbed to death in bed at her home in Kiryat Arba on June 30 — spoke with The Algemeiner as she and her husband Amichai, joined by their two daughters, were concluding a week-long US speaking tour.

Rena said the purpose of the tour — which was organized by the Just One Life NGO — was to “tell Hallel’s story so she won’t be forgotten.”

“It’s not hard to make an emotional connection when people hear about Hallel,” she said. “We hope these connections build up into something that will change reality, so these kinds of tragedies won’t happen again.”

Rena said she received great sympathy from American Jews she met during the trip.

“They live in a different world and we wanted to tell them about the challenges we face,” she said.

Rena emphasized that her overriding message was that “we will continue living in Israel and the places where we are. Hallel lived there and died there and her two sisters will continue to live there.”

When asked what she wanted people to remember about Hallel, Rena replied, “That she was a happy girl who had an amazing future ahead of her.”

Rena said the coping process with her grief would last a lifetime. “It isn’t going away,” she said.