FREEradicals - It is highly likely that Yasser Arafat was assassinated

It is highly likely that Yasser Arafat was assassinated

Yasser Arafat: died of a mysterious blood order in November 2004 Britain, the other day, kicked out the Mossad station chief in London after Israel was held responsible for the use of cloned British passports in the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai.
The British decision to expel the Israeli "diplomat" follows an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency into how copies of the documents were obtained from British citizens.

In announcing the decision to throw out the Mossad chief, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said:

"Given that this was a very sophisticated operation, in which high-quality forgeries were made, the Government judges it is highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service … taking this, together with other inquiries, we have concluded that there are compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports …"

Note the words Miliband uses: "highly likely" and “compelling reasons to believe". In short, while the minister doesn't have the "smoking gun" to show Israeli involvement in the forgeries, he, nontheless, believes that the weight of evidence is such that one could safely assume that the Israelis are the culprits.

I was not surprised by the Israeli response: "We have never been given proof that Israel was involved in this affair", by which they meant: But where's the hard evidence to link us to this case?

I agree with the British foreign secretary and reject the Israeli approach. I think that the world stage isn’t a court room, and it isn't always necessary to produce a smoking gun as a proof. Often, as in this case, the weight of evidence is sufficient.

And here's why '’m telling you this story: I strongly believe that the Israelis assassinated Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Do I have the smoking gun to show that this was indeed the case and that the Israelis are linked to Arafat’s death? No, I don't. But the weight of evidence – and I will not go into all the details here - shows that it is "highly likely" and that there are "compelling reasons to believe" - if to use Miliband's words - that Israeli agents poisoned Arafat.

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FREErad!cals is the ICSR blog. It's a forum for debate and fresh ideas on radicalisation and political violence. It features some of the most innovative, young thinkers, discussing radicals and radicalisation. They are looking at how the challenge has been understood, and how it should be addressed.