Reactions in Jordan are mixed over the release of Ahmed Daqamseh. Daqamseh, a former corporal in the Jordanian army, was convicted by a military court of murdering seven Israeli schoolgirls and wounding six others in the Island of Peace border area in the Jordan Valley in March 1997. He served a life sentence of 20 years under Jordanian law and was released March 12 to his family under tight security.

He was given a hero’s welcome at his village of Idbir in northern Jordan, where he told reporters — who were later barred from talking to him — not to “believe the lie of normalization with the Zionist entity” and “not to believe the lie of the two-state solution,” adding, “There is no state called Israel.” Despite his heated anti-Israel rhetoric, there are those who believe that he is being used by Islamist and other activists as a political pawn.

A number of parliamentarians hailed him as a hero, but there was no official comment from the government and news of his release received little coverage in mainstream media. Saleh al-Armouti, a leading Islamist Lower House deputy, told Al-Monitor, “Jordanians will never forget the massacres committed by Israelis who were never put on trial and are in fact in leadership positions.”

He went on, “Daqamseh was tried and served his sentence and he is now out as a hero. Israel remains an enemy and will always be viewed as an aggressor.” Armouti was referring to Israel’s military operations in Gaza between 2008 and 2014, the economic blockade in place on the Strip and almost daily confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank that often result in Palestinian casualties.