An Israeli military court has sentenced an Islamic militant to 30 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli Cpl. Nachshon Waxman nearly two years ago.
An unrepentant Jihad Yaghmour, 29, told the Lod military court that he bought the skullcaps and black hats used by the kidnappers to disguise themselves as observant Jews when they picked up Waxman at a hitchhiking site.
He admitted that he drove the car used in the Oct. 9, 1994, kidnapping of Waxman.
Yaghmour said he rented the video camera that the kidnappers used to tape Waxman’s plea for help while he was held in a house in a West Bank village just north of Jerusalem.
Waxman was killed Oct. 14, 1994, during a rescue attempt by Israeli commandos.
Three kidnappers and an Israeli officer, Capt. Nir Poraz, were also killed during the exchange of gunfire.
Waxman’s mother, Esther, said this week that she was appalled that the court had not handed down a sentence of life imprisonment.
She also said she believed that the death penalty was warranted.
Waxman said she had met in the United States recently with U.S. National Security Adviser Anthony Lake and requested his assistance in capturing Mohammed Deif, the Hamas terrorist who masterminded the kidnapping.
Waxman said her family had been in contact with high-ranking officials in the Palestinian Authority who told them that Deif’s whereabouts were known, but that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was preventing his arrest.
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