In October 2004, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was holed up in his Ramallah compound, the Mukata. IDF intelligence got reports that his health was deteriorating. Initially, it was assumed that Arafat was suffering complications from the flu virus. The IDF planned to follow its usual protocol: allow food and other vital supplies to
Swiss laboratory research released Tuesday suggests Yassir Arafat was poisoned with polonium in 2004. Francois Bochud, head of the Institute of Radiation Physics at the University of Lausanne, told Al-Jazeera, "The conclusion was that we did find some significant polonium that was present in these samples." Arafat died on November 11, 2004, following several
Islamist governments which were swept to power in the Arab Spring uprisings must ensure that democracy becomes firmly rooted across the region, novelist Amin Maalouf said on Friday. “The people who have come to power must now be made responsible,” the French-Lebanese writer told Reuters. “We have to firstly tell them that they have
Saudi Arabia is set to pay the salaries of the rebel Free Syrian Army to encourage mass defections from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday. The payments would be made in either U.S. dollars or euros -- which would mean a rise in salaries as the Syrian pound has fallen
The Islamist militant group Boko Haram could be responsible for crimes against humanity in Nigeria, the U.N. said on Friday. The High Commissioner for Human Rights is “extremely concerned” by the recent attacks on churches in Kaduna province and “tit-for-tat” reprisals by Christians which since June 17 have left more than 100 people dead,
The United States and Israel jointly developed the sophisticated Flame computer virus that collected critical intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage attacks aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The report was based on conversations with Western officials with knowledge of the effort. The officials
Egypt’s military rulers should re-instate parliament and retreat from political life or risk further polarization and conflict in a deeply divided country, experts warned. If the military fails to adapt to changes in Egyptian society and continues to be seen as part of the old order, it will find itself in a long drawn-out-battle that
A 20-year-old visitor from London, England who said he was told by three separate Waqf monitors to take off his kippah because it was offensive to them should have immediately filed a complaint with police, Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Arutz Sheva in an interview Thursday. "The police are not familiar with any
Terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria have resumed use of an old form of attack – planting bombs on roadsides, then setting them off using mobile phones. The change was revealed in a recent IDF Spokesperson’s Office report. The report showed that after several years in which phone-operated bombs were barely used, the style
Ohio Congressional candidate Samuel Wuerzelbacher, also-known-as “Joe the Plumber,” issued a controversial YouToube video Monday linking the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide to gun control. "In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated. In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1938 to
