A Jordanian Islamist politician invited to a House of Commons event last week once hailed the gunman responsible for the slaughter of seven Israeli schoolgirls ‘a hero’ and also justified the killing of two Israeli police officers on Temple Mount last year.
Dima Tahboub, a member of the Jordanian Parliament for the Islamic Action Front and a Muslim Brotherhood supporter, attended the Women MPs of the World Conference despite her terror-supporting past.
Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt appeared at the conference, which marked the 100th anniversary of the first women in Britain winning the right to stand for election to parliament– although the Daily Mail reported that most of the delegates would have been unaware of her views.
In an interview (see below) last year, Tahboub defended her support for Ahamd Daqamseh, the former Jordanian soldier, who in 1997 opened fire across the border at a group of young Israeli teenagers from Bet Shemesh on a hike, killing seven.
A Jordanian tribunal rejected his claim the girls had had mocked him while he was praying and found him mentally unstable. He was released from prison after 20 years last year.
When DW interviewer Tim Sebastian pressed Ms Tahboub why she had celebrated his release, Ms Tahboub responded that a lot of Jordanians “still see him as a hero. So if you are incriminating my viewpoint, you are also incriminating the viewpoint of the Jordanian people”.
She said the 14-15yr old victims were “not only schoolgirls, they were people who mocked our country, they mocked our religion.”
When Mr Sebastian accused her of helping to legitimise the murder of children, she responded, “You have to put it in context. We have an enemy . The enemy is Israel. If we are put in an enemy state with them, it’s our role to retaliate.”
Further to this, Tahboub justified the killing of two Israeli police officers on Temple Mount last year, saying, “The El Aqsa Mosque is a holy place for Muslims. They shouldn’t be there in the first place. They are the aggressors.
Island of Peace massacre: Killed Israeli schoolgirls are "enem…
"They're enemies and they mocked the Jordanian people."Dima Tahboub, Jordanian MP and spokesperson of the Islamic Action Front, told Tim Sebastian on the case of Jordanian soldier Ahmed Daqamseh. He killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997, saying they had mocked him while he was praying.
Posted by DW Conflict Zone on Wednesday, 19 July 2017
Known as the ‘Island of Peace Massacre’, the Israeli girls were on a school trip to the Island of Peace, an area on the border between Israel and Jordan, in 1997 where they were gunned down by Jordanian soldier, Ahmed Daqamseh. He killed seven girls and wounded six more after he opened fire on the large group of Israeli school girls. He was stopped by other Jordanian soldiers who seized him and rushed to help the victims.
The perpetrator, Ahmad Daqamseh, was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder by a Jordanian medical team. Therefore, a five-member military tribunal sentenced him to only 20 years in prison. He was released on 12 March 2017 after he finished his sentence.
Shortly after the attack, King Hussein went to offer condolences to families of the victims; it was seen as a sincere and an unusual act in the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict which deeply moved the mourning Israeli public and helped improve the relationship between the two countries after the attack.
