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A Jordanian soldier who murdered 7 Israeli schoolgirls in 1997 and was released from prison on March 12 after serving 20 years, told the Al-Jazeera news outlet that Israelis are "human garbage" and, hinting at the Holocaust, said the Jews must be removed "by burning or by burying."
Ahmad Dakamseh, then a member of the Jordanian military, fired an automatic weapon at a group of Israeli schoolgirls who were visiting the Island of Peace at the Israel-Jordan border on March 13, 1997. He killed 7 of the girls, ages 13 to 14: Sivan Fatihi, Natali Alkalai, Adi Malka, Ya'ala Me'iri, Nirit Cohen, Karen Cohen and Shiri Badayev. Dakamseh was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Upon his release on Sunday, Dakamseh was hailed as a hero by many Jordanians, who cheered him at the prison and at his arrival home.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera shortly after his release, Dakamseh said, “The Israelis constitute human garbage, vomited into our midst by the world’s nations."