Lawmaker calls for rearrest of Jordanian who murdered 7 Israeli girls

Lawmaker Oren Hazan demands that Jordanian authorities rearrest Ahmed Daqamseh, who massacred seven Israeli schoolgirls and was released from Israel five years early. A new interview emerged in which he called for the elimination of Israelis.

Ahmed Daqamseh was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murdering seven Israeli schoolgirls in a terror attack. He shot at them from his Jordanian army position near the site of their class trip to the “peace island” of Naharayim, along the Israeli border with Jordan, on March 13, 1997.

Daqamseh was freed Saturday night, to a hero’s welcome, five years before the end of his sentence, despite having said in a recent jailhouse interview, “If I could return to that moment, I would behave exactly the same way … Every day that passes, I grow stronger in the belief that what I did was my duty.”

His early release, which came just as the joyous holiday of Purim was beginning, infuriated Israelis, especially the families of his young victims.

Eti Malka, who lost her 13-year-old sister Adi in the attack, told Walla News, “I cannot explain what I feel. We are all broken, all broken. I saw how [the terrorist] looks today, and I imagine how my sister would look after 20 years.”

“I mostly feel anger. I thought there would be a miracle [that Daqamseh would not be released early], and then I see him celebrated as a hero,” she said.

Member of Knesset Oren Hazan of the ruling Likud party is demanding that the terrorist be rearrested, pointing to the violent, unremorseful statements made in his first post-release interview. “The Israelis are the human waste which the nations of the world vomited up before us… We must eliminate this waste by incineration or by burial,” Daqamseh asserted.

Hazan reacted strongly, Arutz Sheva reported. “Daqamseh is a proven terrorist whose calls to incitement should be considered additions to his previous crimes. If he is calling for the murder of more Israelis, this constitutes a threat to the public, which should be dealt with by Jordan itself,” the lawmaker declared.

“The fact that this abominable murderer was released from prison and honored like a king shows how fragile a peace agreement we have with his government, and proves the peace agreement is only due to foreign interests,” he added.

“I remember when King Hussein visited Israel. It was just after the murder, and he got down on his knees and asked forgiveness from the victims’ families. What’s happening in Jordan now is causing me to think King Abdullah should act the same way as his father. If his country would have killed Daqamseh immediately, we would not be in this situation,” Hazan stated.

By: Eli Stein, World Israel News

Ahmed DaqamsehArab terrorJordanKing AbdullahKing HusseinOren Hazan