On 25 September 1997, Mashal was the target of an
assassination attempt carried out by the Israeli
Mossad under orders from Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet. The assassination was intended as retaliation for the
1997 Mahane Yehuda Market Bombings. At the time of the assassination attempt, Mashal was considered Hamas' Jordanian branch chief.
Two Mossad agents carrying fake
Canadian passports entered
Jordan, where Mashal was living. The Mossad agents waited at the entrance of the Hamas offices in Amman, and as Mashal walked into his office, one of the agents came up from behind and held a device to Mashal's left ear that transmitted a fast-acting poison.[SUP]
[5][/SUP] Soon afterward the two Israeli agents were captured.[SUP]
[6][/SUP]
Immediately after the incident, Jordan's
King Hussein demanded that Netanyahu turn over the
antidote for the poison, threatening to sever diplomatic relations and to try the detained Israeli agents.[SUP]
[6][/SUP] Netanyahu at first refused, and the incident quickly grew in political significance. With Israeli-Jordanian relations rapidly deteriorating, King Hussein threatened to void
the historic 1994 peace between the two countries should Mashal die.[SUP]
[7][/SUP] U.S President
Bill Clinton intervened and compelled Netanyahu to turn over the antidote.[SUP]
[8][/SUP]
The head of Mossad,
Danny Yatom, flew to Jordan, with the prime minister's consent, bringing an antidote to treat Mashal.[SUP]
[9][/SUP] However, the doctors at
King Hussein Medical Center, where Meshaal lay in a
coma, had already administered the same antidote —
naloxone (Narcan), an anti-opioid — after observing Meshaal's symptoms to be consistent with an
opioid overdose.[SUP]
[7][/SUP] The antidote likely saved his life.[SUP]
[6][/SUP]
After the incident, Mashal told
Third Way magazine: "Israeli threats have one of two effects: some people are intimidated, but others become more defiant and determined. I am one of the latter."[SUP]
[10][/SUP]
Immediately after both Israeli agents were sent back to Israel by the authorities, the spiritual leader of Hamas,
Ahmed Yassin, was released from Israeli custody,[SUP]
[6][/SUP] despite serving a life sentence.[SUP]
[11][/SUP] Afterwards, more Palestinian and Jordanian prisoners were released by Israel.[SUP]
[6][/SUP] The governments of both Israel and Jordan denied prisoner-exchange negotiations were held.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Mashal
