How Israel’s Mossad killed this Palestinian commander—1976 Air France flight hijacker— with ’toothpaste’

The killing of the top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has raised tensions in the region, with Iran vowing revenge against Israel and has brought cease-fire negotiations to a halt as Hamas and its allies seek to regroup.

Reports allege that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad hired Iranian security agents to plant explosives at the place where Haniyeh was staying. His killing closely resembles the killing of Palestinian leader Wadie Haddad in 1978, who was killed by a toxic toothpaste, according to reports.

Wadie Haddad was the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He was held responsible for several high-profile attacks, including the 1976 hijacking of Air France Flight 139, known as the Entebbe Hijacking.

On January 10, 1978, Mossad's Agent Sadness replaced Haddad’s regular toothpaste with a specially prepared toxic version. The toothpaste was prepared at the Israel Institute for Biological Research. The toothpaste was aimed to enter Haddad’s mucous membranes and gradually build up into a deadly dose, the reports said.

“Each time Haddad brushed his teeth, a minute quantity of the deadly toxin penetrated the mucous membranes in his mouth,” wrote Ronen Bergman, Yediot Aharonot’s senior military correspondent, according to a Jerusalem Post report.

Gradually, due to the consumption of toothpaste, Wadie Haddad fell severely sick in Baghdad. His symptoms included abdominal spasms, loss of appetite and rapid weight loss of over 25 pounds.

His condition continued to deteriorate despite being treated by top doctors from Iraq. He was diagnosed with hepatitis and a severe cold, but even powerful antibiotics had no effect.

Suspicions of poisoning arose when his hair started falling off, reports said. Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), sought help from the East German Secret Service, the Stasi.

Airlifted to East Berlin for treatment

The Stasi airlifted Haddad to East Berlin and admitted him to a secret hospital under the assumed name of ‘Ahmed Doukli’. Doctors conducted thorough tests on him, but they could not determine the cause of his illness.

Doctors suspected either rat poison or thallium poisoning but without any definitive evidence. Wadie Haddad’s condition continued to deteriorate, with serious haemorrhaging and a drop in platelet count.

He spent ten days in the hospital under heavy medication, but the doctors could not save him. He died on March 29, 1978. 

According to reports,  an autopsy conducted by Professor Otto Prokop revealed that Wadie Haddad died from brain bleeding and pneumonia caused by panmyelopathy. The precise cause of the poisoning, however, was unclear for years. It took almost three decades to determine the real cause of Haddad’s assassination.