51 thoughts on “Swiss Scientists Confirm Arafat Murdered by Polonium – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Thank you for today’s and previous reporting on the assassination by polonium-210 of Yasser Arafat.

    I’ve followed this incident closely, gut I must take issue with the following line in above report:

    We’ve seen that Russia murdered Litvinenko with polonium in 2006… this is not so! In the US there are blogs who point the finger at Russia for Arafat’s murder and not at the Israelis.

    Originally posted in BooMan’s fp story – Did the Russians Poison Arafat?.

    Yasser Arafat was holed up and under IDF siege in his Ramallah compound. Ariel Sharon wanted him dead, a clear motive. Russians did not poison Yasser Arafat in the fall of 2004, and as a consequence the Russians should not be suspect in the 2006 murder of Litvinenko, a MI-5 spy for the British. See article in The Independent – Censored: British intelligence links to murdered Litvinenko and the NY Times. Later it was stated Litvinenko was also employed by the Spanish secret service. By some estimates, a lethal dose of Polonium-210 might cost as little as $22.50, plus tax. After preventing evidence at Robert Owen’s coroner inquest, the British government has denied a public inquiry into Litvinenko’s death in July 2013.

    The British have tried to frame the Russians for the murder out of self-interest. The British and Russians were in a bitter intelligence dispute. France and the US tried to prevent an investigation into the death of Yasser Arafat. The most trustworthy analysis will be from the Swiss – a 108 page forensic report.

    Debunking the Putin Killed Litvinenko Story by soj on Nov 24th, 2006
    A Not So Common Poison for Assassins by Oui on July 3rd, 2012

  2. “poisoned with the highest dose of polonium ever recorded in a human being”

    Out of curiosity, where did you get the information that Arafat had the highest dose of polonium ever found in a human being? I’ve been trying to get information to compare the circumstances of Arafat’s death and Litvinenko’s death but have yet to find any direct comparisons with respect to amounts of poison used in each case. As you point out, there is only information as to the amount of polonium found in Arafat’s bones (18x the normal amount). In Litvinenko’s case, the only available information is that he received a dose at least 200x stronger than the typical lethal dose for humans. Anyway, I have much, much more to write on this subject but I will not be able to do so until later this afternoon.

    1. Al Jazeera funded the first report which led to the polonium-210 poisoning find.

      Al Jazeera nine month investigation: Arafat was poisoned with polonium

      (July 4, 2012) – Eight years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s system. Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV.

      A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed that none of those rumors were true: Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on October 12, 2004.

      The institute studied Arafat’s personal effects, which his widow provided to Al Jazeera, the first time they had been examined by a laboratory. Doctors did not find any traces of common heavy metals or conventional poisons, so they turned their attention to more obscure elements, including polonium.

      It is a highly radioactive element used, among other things, to power spacecraft. Marie Curie discovered it in 1898, and her daughter Irene was among the first people it killed: She died of leukemia several years after an accidental polonium exposure in her laboratory.

      Arafat’s Death

      Arafat was pronounced dead at 3:30 am UTC on 11 November at the age of 75 of what French doctors called a massive haemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident. However, the underlying infection is unknown. In 2012, newly released medical records revealed that French doctors initially diagnosed Arafat with gastroenteritis.

      1. @Oui:

        I do not disagree that Al-Jazeera might have funded the study of his belongings but Suha Arafat absolutely commissioned the Swiss study into his remains that resulted in the 108 page report released yesterday. Do not read this to imply that I believe the study should be dismissed simply b/c of who funded it, however.

      1. Why is questioning the source of Suha Arafat’s fortune a comment violation?

        [comment edited for comment rule violation]

  3. Unfortunately, this article does not hold up to scientific scrutiny:
    Patrick Cockburn (not exactly a Zionist ideologue), in his article in the British “Independent” (again, not exactly a Zionist propaganda paper), points out the following:
    “The radioactive substance used, polonium-210, has only a brief half-life of 138.4 days so traces detected eight years after he was supposedly poisoned would be difficult to find.
    There is also the question as to why French doctors, who were looking after Mr Arafat in Paris – to which he had been flown when he first fell ill – did not find signs that he had been poisoned in the days immediately after his death. France had bad relations with Israel at the time and had no reason to participate in a cover up.”
    (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/was-yasser-arafat-murdered-lethal-levels-of-polonium-found-in-body-of-palestinian-leader-8925466.html)
    Maybe the headline should read “Swiss scientists assume…”, but they definitely do not confirm anything, and their claim is not free of any doubts, scientifically.

    1. benjamin, another apologist to the rescue, carrying water for murderous thugs, but not so much logic, alas.

      With all due respect to Patrick Cockburn he, like so many other opinion writers, is not a scientist. I’ve heard the decay time of polonium cited over and over. With great precision too. But just because an element decays does not mean it disappears entirely. For one it will leave behind by-products, especially when the original element enters material, such as tissue, including bone. For another, there will be less of it left, but depending on the original amount, and where the residue has lodged, that amount can be highly indicative of the original dose administered.

      If anything, the fact that the amount of Polonium discovered in bone samples and soil was 18 times normal, goes to show that originally, there was quite a bit of it, if that much can still be traced 8 years later. In fact, there are probably numerical estimates that would allowinformaed guesses as to the original dose.

      Another factor is the manner in which Polonium was imbued. Note that Litvinenko fell ill immediately and was dead a 2 or 3 weeks later (need to check the exact time). Arafat lingered for 4 weeks and his symptoms were somewhat different – which indicates that there can be more severe effect on some organs than others. Litvinenko drank poisoned tea, where the Polonium was directly administered to his stomach with a relatively concentrated dose. Arafat poison may have entered his body in less concentrated but possibly more prolonged manner – say, through poisoned utensils, ones that only he would have used. Obviously there are many options, which is what makes this case complicated.

      The leanings of the French dealing with Arafat and just who was who among those treating him is another avenue of inquiry. The absence of an autopsy was always suspicious, especially in a case where the cause of death was effectively unknown, and the victim was such a well-known figure. I happen to believe that it’s impossible to escape the conclusion that there were individuals in France (not necessarily on the doctors team) who participated, knowingly, in the cover-up. Too much was not investigated at the onset. While it is not my intent to point fingers, it bears to reason that even the choice of France was not without some undue influence. To suppose that there was someone(s) on the inside in the hospital is not exactly far-fetched and i reckon people have looked into that.

      What is important is the these benjamin types be understood for what they are – carriers of water contaminated by allegiance to mafioso state. I would extend them the credibility due to any consiglieri.

      1. One question I have is how Israel would’ve known what particular piece of food, or other item it sent in to the compound would be used by Arafat and only Arafat? IIRC, Israel had him surrounded but he wasn’t alone in his compound and nobody else inside with him has died of radiation related illness.

        1. Ari, that is my question too – the manner in which the Polonium could have been delivered is quite a good fodder for the who done it. Ithink there are several possibilities there and looking at foods that only Arafat would have consumed is a place to start. There are other good questions: as Richard points out Arafat was completely surrounded and Israel had control over everything that entered the Muqata. Surely, yhe possibility of poisoning was high on the list of the palestinians who surrounded Arafat and there’s a strong likelihood he’d have had a food taster or two.

          Some good places to start is to look at the people who were around him at the time – investigate whether any had symptoms of any kind. Same with the visitors who’d come in – and there were some. Timing is everything with such a ssubtle case of poisoning.

          There are people looking at symptoms and claims of variances with what litvinenko went through. but there was also the case of sadeh, who illness went over a protracted period of time. Not all radiation sicknesses are alike, and the specific manner in which Arafat was affected should hold a great number of clues as to the How and When. I heard there are clever scientists in israel with specialty in radiation sickness of all kinds. How about some of them lend a hand here? you know – light unto the nations and all that…..

    2. @ Benjamin: Patrick Cockburn is not a nuclear scientist. The Swiss scientists are. I’ll go with them.

      No one in the world in 2004 had ever diagnosed polonium poisoning so the fact that the French didn’t find the cause isn’t at all surprising.

  4. The human and the reality are somewhat going apart, there is ISRAEL the land the buildings the olive trees, and there is Israel the people! the current problem is the people, ideology, Israel Palestine, Egypt this is just land on planet earth, as there in fact a French bush Is exactly the same as a Belgian bush, borders do not exist, and there is only one human race, humans are animals as well it is call the human animal. However humans now are in some world of illusion and believe they are only mind and neglect the body the flesh. Humans must calm down and come down to reality and understand they are mortal, exist for a definite time and are all the same. Better to help each other’s than to fight against each other’s, the fact is if they don’t they will perish and only a few will remain. land is the same here or in Japan, you folks got a very serious problem Fukushima; better get all scientist in iran and elsewhere and fix the problem instead of having BIBI disgust useless and senseless policies and idiotic ideologies…

      1. At this point, all the of investigations seem to leave something to be desired- mostly due to interested parties being involved. Sounds like the French will not be making their results public until the potential (or ongoing?) criminal inquiry is completed. I think the questions will continue to linger for sometime to come.

        1. @ Ari Greenfield: I don’t think the Swiss report leaves anything to be desired. Rather than carp about who paid for or sponsored the investigation as you have, read the 108 pg report & poke holes in it if you can. The French may be no more reliable since they claim they did no autopsy after his death. Imagine the guy wastes away & French doctors know nothing about why he died & they don’t do an autopsy?? Sorry, doesn’t wash. I’ll trust the Swiss.

          1. I do not know that the French report will be anymore reliable but it is related to the only criminal inquiry into the death, so I would hope it would be completed in a fair and impartial matter manner. I agree that an autopsy would’ve been helpful at the time, however, given that there was no criminal investigation at the time of his death, I am nearly certain the decision to perform or not perform an autopsy is left to the discretion of the family. I plan to read the report as time permits.

          2. According to French newspapers Suha Arafat opposed an autopsy back in 2004, and according to an interview on Al-Jazeera she claims that she was never offered such an option and that it didn’t occur to her to ask. According to French law she was the only one to allow an autopsy. This is a very important topic, and we need to know who’s telling the truth.
            It seems that the French report is being hold back because Hollande is going to Israel in a couple of days.

          3. @ Deir Yassin @ Richard Silverstein

            You two are absolutely right. After all the Zionist lobby has complete control not only over the US political system, but over the French one as well.
            Hopefully you guys have a chart that demonstrates the balance of power in France.

            On the other hand, is it possible that President Holland and his foreign minister Fabius didn’t want to be remembered in history like Édouard Daladier ?

          4. @ Joe Black: You haven’t bothered to read the comment rules. Snark that implies anti-Semitic motives is absolutely prohibited here. You’ve been moderated and put on notice that further comment violations will result in your ban.

          5. The news about the French role in the nuke talks is an interesting and fascinating development. I look forward (hopefully) to a new article on this as time permits.

        2. @ Ari Greenfield: You haven’t raised a single legitimate objection to the Swiss investigation. In fact, you said the fact that Suha allegedly was involved with it did not disqualify it. Now, only 2 hrs later, you’ve changed your mind.

          1. All I said is that who paid for the report does not in itself invalidate any findings but it is something to take into consideration. I still believe that. If you hired me to poke holes in this study in a courtroom, I’d probably raise the following issues:

            -the assumption that Arafat was in good health and/or otherwise healthy prior to the evening of October 12, 2004.
            -the absence of some symptoms generally seen in someone with radiation poisoning- meylosuppression and hair loss.
            -the study admits chain of custody issues with the personal items sampled.
            -the study admits a lack of knowledge and available studies about polonium 210 poisoning and it’s breakdown inside the human body (in life and postmortem).

          2. @ Ari Greenfield: Suha Arafat did NOT pay for the report. Al Jazeera did. She cooperated with it as her approval & participation was needed.

            None of the objections you raise are significant.

          3. I suppose I’d add these remarks from the Swiss researchers during their press conference to support my original statement that further inquiry is needed:

            “The doubt is enough to induce more investigation, but at a judicial level, to open an inquiry to look at other kinds of evidence, not measurements, but contacts between Palestinians and other people,” Mangin told Reuters in an interview.

            “Can we say with certitude that polonium was the cause of death of President Arafat? Unfortunately for those of you who want a clearly-defined answer, the answer is no. That is to say, our study did not permit us to demonstrate categorically the hypothesis of poisoning by polonium.”

            http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/07/us-palestinians-arafat-swiss-idUSBRE9A610I20131107

          4. @ Ari Greenfield: This is disingenuous. The scientist asked whether he could give a 100% assurance that Arafat was murdered by polonium, to which he says “No.” Can I be absolutely certain that the earth will exist tomorrow morning when I wake up? No. But will it? Yes.

            They’ve told you their level of certainty is 83%. That’s good enough for me. If you want 100% you’ll have to move to a different universe.

          5. I do not understand how you can call my quoting the scientists own words to support my argument that more research is needed disingenuous when the scientist says, “the doubt is enough to induce more investigation.”

            With respect to Al-Jazeera’s 83% certainty statement, that is nowhere in the report & the scientists never said it. Al-Jazeera either misinterpreted or misrepresented the findings as stated pursuant to the “verbal probability scale” found on page 69 of the study. The study put forth 2 hypotheses, each with 3 possible outcomes (strongly support, moderately support & slightly support). H1 proposed that Arafat died as a result of polonium 210; H2 proposed Arafat did not die as a result of polonium poisoning. The study states that the findings “moderately support the proposition H1”- this finding was simply one out of six possible outcomes. It was not a 5 on a scale of 6 as Al-Jazeera led us to believe (5/6=83%).

            My opinion remains that further inquiry is needed. Others may disagree.

      2. Al Jazeera published an “excerpt” of the I. Buryazan Medical Center report dated July 31, 2013, adressed to V.V. Uyebe, Head of the Federal Microbiological Agency of Russia.

        Russian forensic report on Arafat’s death

        The Russian exhumation team received 20 samples from Arafat’s body, as did the Swiss and French teams. But the scientists in Moscow appear to have only been given four samples to test, two from the skull bone and two from “extremity bones”.

        The Russian exhumation report concludes that “only one of the four provided fragments”, a piece of the skull bone, “was found to have radioactive background”. In addition to being given an incomplete selection of bone samples, the scientists appear to also have been restricted by the Russian Foreign Ministry in how to present the report.

      3. Russian agency contradicts chief’s claims on Arafat poisoning

        (DW-DE) – Vladimir Uiba [Uyebe?], head of Russia’s Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA), spoke on personal title, not supported by the agency itself.

        An official statement from the FMBA issued soon appeared to contradict Uiba’s reported comments: “We have not publicized any official results of our forensic review,” a spokesman for the agency told AFP, reading from an official statement. “Neither have we publicly confirmed nor denied media reports about there being or not being polonium in Arafat’s remains.”

  5. As polonium 210 decays by alpha emission with a 1/2 life of about 138 days, by eight years after a disputed event it would have become lead 206 a stable (non-radioactive) isotope of lead with a natural abundance of about 24% (the 204, 207, and 208 isotopes making up the other 76% of non-radioactive lead) Detecting the (former) presence of polonium 210 depends on determining the presence and abundance of lead 206. Mass spectrometry can do that.

  6. What about Sharon? I remember something about some Israeli Rabbis getting together to put a cabballah witch curse on him for trying to give some stolen land back to the Panlestinians. Then Sharon went into a zombie like catatonic coma. I figured the cabal od rabbis borrowed some voodoo witchcraft and mixed up a batch of zombie juice from the puffer fish bladder and slipped it into his food.

  7. Thank you for the report and background information.
    I saw a report by NPR, “Clashing reports offer no firm answers on Arafat poisoning.” Nov 8, 2013
    “The Palestinian committee investigating Arafat’s death is waiting for one more lab report from France, where Arafat died in a military hospital. Journalist Matthew Kalman isn’t sure how far the Palestinian investigators will be willing to go.”
    http://www.npr.org
    Not especially noteworthy, other than the mentioned French report.
    I hope that the polonium 210 found will be traced to it’s source and the investigation will be conclusive, if possible.

  8. In Wired magazine, a number of background articles. The Palestinian Authority initiated the investigation after the first Al Jazeera report and documentary. Plenty of domestic and international politics obcures the conclusion in the findings of polonium poisoning.

    The Maybe-Murder of Yasser Arafat

    One undisputable fact remains, Yasser Arafat suddenly fell ill after consumption of a meal and all modern science of doctors could not save him from dying nor provide conclusive evidence in the cause of his death. There was Palestinian infighting during his four weeks of illness and his resurfaced often. France nor Russia will be inclined to provide more fuel to the fire between Palestinians and Israel.

  9. Now for some basic science every one who can open a wiki page can do.
    But I expect you to censor me, like you always do when the facts contradicts your propaganda.
    Here it goes:
    Polonium 210 half life is less than 140 days.
    Arafat is dead for 8 years.
    Assume they found 2MG of it on his body, the dose he had in his body 8 years ago is about 2KG.
    Now 2KG of this stuff is practically a dirty bomb.
    In addition, polonium 210 decays into lead, which means they had to find about 2KG of lead in his body.
    This is not even remotely close to what they found.
    Therefore the whole 108 pages of report is pure BS.
    Basic science.

      1. To start with, you have no idea what kind of scientific expertise I have.
        Yet, you form an opinion based on nothing and present it to the forum as fact.
        I wonder how much of the other facts you present in this forum are just speculations based on nothing.
        As for the facts I presented in my response, you failed to refute any of them, meaning that report is indeed BS.
        Instead you chose to attack me personally like a bully.
        Making the world a better place indeed.

        1. @ free man: I’m smart enough to know that if you had any scientific expertise upon being challenged you’d reveal it if you had any. I’m also smart enough to know that what you presented as scientific evidence is nothing of the sort. So stop whining about me being a bully & tell us what that expertise is. If you don’t have any, then we’ll know who’s full of bullshit.

          1. Again, My scientific expertise are none of your business.
            You failed to refute any of the facts I presented and attacked me in person instead.
            BTW, Bragging how smart you are, is not very smart.

        2. Have you been counting α-particles lately?

          Health effects
          Polonium is an extremely dangerous substance. When it breaks down, it gives off alpha particles. These particles are tiny, atom-sized particles that can destroy cells. Polonium is considered to be more than 100 billion times more dangerous than hydrogen cyanide. The maximum suggested exposure to the element is no more than about seven one-hundred-billionths of a gram.

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