which he said would have answered many questions regarding cause of death. Medical records released in 2005 showed that Arafat's doctors could not agree on the cause of death, stating that he died from a stroke that stemmed from an unknown condition. Analysis based on those records suggested him dying from poisoning, AIDS, or an infection. In 2012, newly released medical records revealed that French doctors initially diagnosed Arafat with gastroenteritis. AIDS In September 2005, based on obtained Arafat records, an Israeli AIDS expert claimed that Arafat bore all the symptoms of AIDS, while The New York Times claimed it was highly unlikely that Arafat died from AIDS. John Loftus reported on ABC radio that Arafat had died of AIDS. According to Loftus, the CIA had knowledge of his condition, and convinced Israel not to assassinate him and wait for his inevitable death of the disease, since the subsequent widespread connotations of the disease with homosexuality would discredit him. Arafat's personal doctor for 18 years, Dr. Ashraf Al-Kurdi, said there was HIV in his blood, but poison killed him, and al-Kurdi, a former Jordanian official said the virus had been injected into Arafat's bloodstream. However an article published in a number of American news publications rejected the assertion that Arafat had AIDS, stating, "An Israeli infectious disease specialist said he would have performed the test, if only to be thorough and to refute the rumors that surrounded the case. He said news accounts during Arafat's illness made him strongly suspect that Arafat had AIDS. But after studying the records, he said that was improbable, given the sudden onset of the intestinal troubles", though AIDS-associated opportunistic infections such as cryptosporidiosis can begin in this way. This same article also states that it is "highly unlikely" that Arafat had died from poisoning, and further asserts that Arafat had died from a stroke linked to an "underlying infection." Gastroenteritis New medical records that were released in July 2012 showed that Arafat's condition was initially diagnosed as viral gastroenteritis by his Arab doctors who took care of him in the West Bank in the Mukataa before he was airlifted to France, although his condition later improved and he even joined in the fast of Ramadan. However, there was persistent vomiting and diarrhea, Arafat began feeling weaker, and his blood platelet count dropped. On 28 October, his medical team decided to send him abroad, and