Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli girls receives hero's welcome after release from prison

Convicted Jordanian killer Ahmed Daqamseh, who was sent to a Jordanian prison in 1997 for the murder of seven Israeli schoolgirls, was released from prison Monday after finishing his 20-year sentence.

Though widely condemned by Jordanian citizens and government officials at the time — including then-King Hussein bin Talal, whose visit to the girls' families and evident grief prefaced a significant improvement in Israeli-Jordanian relations in the wake of the attack — Daqamseh was lauded as a hero by extremist anti-Israeli elements of Jordanian society.

In recent years, calls for his release have intensified as Arab nationalist officials installed during the Arab Spring have taken up Daqamseh's cause. Since 2011, the country's former Justice Minister Hussein Mjalli and the vast majority of its Parliament have officially called for Daqamseh's sentence to be shortened.

The Washington Post reported that Jordanian officials released Daqamseh late Saturday night in order to minimize any celebrations of his release, but hundreds of well-wishers journeyed to his family home in northern Jordan to celebrate his freedom.

Monday evening on "Pat & Stu," hosts Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere reflected on the news of Daqamseh's release and the reaction in Jordan. Daqamseh's short sentence and complete lack of regret for his actions left Pat and Stu shocked and appalled.

"That's the problem with these guys, is that they don't believe Israel has the right to exist," Pat explained. "They won't acknowledge Israel. And yet we're supposed to still push this two-state solution down their throats. Well, they don't want a two-state solution. That's been the problem since 1947. Can we come to grips with that, for the love of heaven? When are we going to realize that the Palestinians don't want a two-state solution? They had it in the beginning. They had their two-state solution in  the beginning in 1947, and they rejected it because they wanted it all. They wanted no Jews in the area."

To see more from Pat & Stu, visit their channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “Pat & Stu” with Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere and Jeffy Fisher weekdays 5–7 p.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.