Mossad's botched poisoning of Meshaal in Amman

On 25 September 1997 Mossad agents sprayed a fentanyl-derivative poison into Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's ear in Amman. The operation unraveled: agents were caught, and King Hussein — furious at the violation of Jordanian soil and the peace treaty — forced Netanyahu, via President Clinton, to deliver the antidote that saved Meshaal and to release Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other prisoners. The fiasco elevated Meshaal's standing and freed Hamas's founder.

Referenced entities

Parties

Hamas

Politicians

Khaled Meshaal party-leader

Sources

Permalink: https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/pulse/b9844f3e-2924-406a-ba2a-84ff35d4a34d

How to cite

Each record carries a retrieval date because the dataset is live — individual entries update as verification deepens. Use the per-record citation when referencing this specific profile; use the dataset citation below when referencing the project as a whole.

In-text: (Gara, 2026)

Per-record citation

APA 7Reference list · academic default

Gara, T. (2026). Mossad's botched poisoning of Meshaal in Amman [Event record]. Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Retrieved July 27, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/pulse/b9844f3e-2924-406a-ba2a-84ff35d4a34d

Chicago author-dateCommon in political-science journals

Gara, Tarek. 2026. "Mossad's botched poisoning of Meshaal in Amman." Event record, Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Accessed July 27, 2026. https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/pulse/b9844f3e-2924-406a-ba2a-84ff35d4a34d.

BibTeXFor LaTeX / Zotero / reference managers

@misc{tayyar-event-b9844f3e-2924-406a-ba2a-84ff35d4a34d,
  title     = {{Mossad's botched poisoning of Meshaal in Amman}},
  author    = {Gara, Tarek},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset},
  type      = {Event record},
  url       = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/pulse/b9844f3e-2924-406a-ba2a-84ff35d4a34d},
  urldate   = {2026-07-27},
  note      = {Event date: 1997-09-25. First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.}
}

Dataset / working-paper citation

If you're citing Tayyar as a project rather than this individual record.

APA 7Preprint

Gara, T. (2026). Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset [Preprint]. Retrieved July 27, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper

BibTeXPreprint

@unpublished{tayyar-preprint,
  title  = {{Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset}},
  author = {Gara, Tarek},
  year   = {2026},
  type   = {Preprint},
  url    = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper},
  urldate = {2026-07-27},
  note   = {Living document, regenerated from the live dataset on page load.}
}

Event date: 1997-09-25. First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.