7. Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Yasser Arafat was considered a hero to the Palestinian people but he was little more than a terrorist to the Israelis, therefore it is not to surprising that there those that believe the Israeli government conspired to kill the Palestinian leader. The Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, or Mossad was the accused of being behind most of the assassination attempts made on Yassar Arafat.
Israel has been quite secretive about their attempts on Arafar but Ariel Sharon, an Israeli general and former Prime Minister made it clear that it had been the ambition of several Israeli governments to kill the Palestinian leader. Arafat had accused Sharon of at least 13 attempts on his life but Sharon never gave a number himself, only that the opportunity had arisen multiple times. But Israel was not the only one to want Arafat dead, it is believed that King Hussein of Jordon ordered an assassination attempt on Arafat in 1970 during Black September.
Three times during Arafat’s reign as leader of the Palestinians the Israelis raid his compound but in all three times the leader survives, largely because Israel allows him to. In 2003, Israel’s security Cabinet states that it will work to “remove” Arafat from power and Arafat responds that they can kill him with bombs. The Israelis and Arafat are tight lipped as to the assassination attempts but both acknowledge it happened.
His death is the only assassination attempt that really got much investigation and attention, largely because the Palestinians believe he was murdered while the international community is not sure. He became very ill and died at a French hospital in 2004 at the age of 75. However, many of his personal belongings were found to have high levels of radioactive materials. An investigation found moderate evidence to suggest he had been poisoned.