The two Mossad agents were brought from the drain to the street and immediately placed in a taxi. The driver asked Saad al-Khatib in front of the crowd,
“Where do we have to go?”
Saad Al-Khatib replied,
“Let’s go to Intelligence Headquarters.”
But when the taxi left the crowd behind, Saad Al-Khatib gave new instructions,
“Go to Wadi Al Seer Police Station.”
On the other hand, Khalid immediately called a meeting of the political bureau of his organization and informed the participants about the incident. No one could understand what had happened. There was not even a scratch on Khalid. He was also fully conscious. The incident happened with all seriousness. The perpetrators immediately fled the scene like criminals. A strange device was used in the incident, which sent a current through Khalid’s body and produced a strange noise in his left ear.
In this incomprehensible situation, the meeting’s members made a very wise decision to report the incident. They believed that the media should be informed about the incident and its details immediately. In this way, many experts around the world would come into action to provide help. What had possibly happened in this incident? So, the AFP bureau chief in Oman, Randa Habib, was immediately contacted and informed about the incident. Randa Habib remembers this day and describes it as follows:
“Mohammed Nizal told me that there was an assassination attempt on Khalid. He described it, mentioning that some strange device was used. There was no explosion, no shooting, and no injuries. But, at the same time, I was sure that they were telling the truth. This is a strange situation. This organization keeps making various accusations against the Mossad. But if it was just an accusation, the story would have been more reasonable. The argument was that something really happened, and they also did not understand what happened. So, I told them that I was reporting the incident to the media, but I would do it as “sources” because I myself did not see anything.”
Thus, the news broke at 11 o’clock on September 25, 1997. Randa Habib broke it from Radio Monte Carlo. The reaction came as it usually does with the first official response everywhere. The Jordanian authorities, who were completely unaware of the incident, started scolding Randa Habib, asking how she could break such significant news without confirming with them. Most of them not only denied the incident, but some even told Randa Habib that Khalid was not there. However, Randa Habib’s position was that AFP had presented the organization’s claim without making any claim. If this is true, it is a direct attack by Mossad on the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan, which is a serious matter, so its news cannot be suppressed.
The news soon reached the Arab media in different countries. Jordanian authorities gave their first official response to the incident, stating that the incident was nothing more than a fight between Khaled’s bodyguard and two Canadian tourists. Apparently, that was what it looked like because Khalid was safe and sound, and two men had a fight with his bodyguard who had come to Jordan’s capital, Amman, on a Canadian passport.
The Minister of Information himself contacted Randa Habib and said that her story was a lie and asked her to issue a refutation of it. He claimed it was just a fight between a bodyguard and two Canadian tourists, and Khalid’s bodyguard was also guilty because he started the fight. Veteran Randa Habib was shocked at the word “Canadian.” She had found the tip from which she could begin her research. So, she immediately contacted the Canadian Embassy in Oman and asked, “Two of your citizens are arrested in Wadi Al-Sir Police Station; are you aware of this incident and can you confirm it?”
The response given to Randa from the embassy was shocking: “Our consul went to the police station, but the two men refused to meet him.” The response was shocking because when a citizen is arrested on another country’s soil, their first wish is to be given immediate access to their consul. But here, the situation was reversed. Both arrested persons were not ready to meet the Canadian consul. Randa Habib immediately understood that these two were not Canadians. But, at that point, there was currently no proof that these two were Israelis. Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouq contacted Jordan’s intelligence chief, Major General Sameh Batikhi, to find out some details. But they also said the same thing.
The noteworthy point in this whole situation is that Khalid Meshaal looked fine. So, Hamas was also confused. And since Khalid was perfectly fine, and in a canal, his bodyguard had a fight with two Canadian-looking tourists, the Jordanian authorities thought that this was not a murder attack but a fight between the guard and the tourists. The situation took a shocking turn when, after a few hours, Khalid Meshaal’s condition started to deteriorate. According to him, “I suddenly felt weak and drowsy. It felt like I was being given anesthesia. I could see things around but I was not fully conscious.”
As the condition worsened, Khalid Meshaal was immediately rushed to the Islamic Hospital of Oman, a charitable hospital run by a religious NGO. Hamas chose it for Khalid with the thought that Khalid would be safer there. But the problem was that the doctors were not able to diagnose what had happened to him or what was happening. So, his photo was released to the media so that medical experts or anyone else could help in the matter. AFP Bureau Chief Randa Habib says, “When that picture came to me, Khalid looked like he was in a coma, and his condition was not good. So I was sure that he had been attacked.”
This was the time when the Jordanian authorities informed King Hussein of this incident. Because the authorities understood that the matter which was seen as a fight between three people had now taken a serious form due to the coma of Khalid Meshaal. Therefore, if Israel is really involved in this, it is a serious violation of the peace agreement between Jordan and Israel.
At the same time, Mossad also informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it was caught red-handed in the incident and that two of its agents were currently in the custody of Jordanian authorities in Amman. Says Danny Yaton, then head of the Mossad, “When I informed Netanyahu, he told me that you should immediately contact King Hussein himself and assure him that we will provide you with an antidote that will eliminate the effect of the poison on Khaled Meshaal and that he will be absolutely fine. But you should suppress the matter; don’t let it grow.” ( to be continued)
