he was flown to France the next morning. Dr Joseph Zimmerman, an Israeli specialist who reviewed the Ramallah medical file said Arafat's early symptoms were not consistent with viral gastroenteritis, and did not believe that type of viral infection would lead to death. He also said that poisoning appeared unlikely, even by a radioactive substance such as polonium-210. He reminded people that Arafat's platelet counts dropped suddenly and stayed low, and that Arafat eventually exhibited signs of liver dysfunction, which could have been caused by a bacterial infection, but is not typical of poisoning. Platelet disorder A report by the French doctors who treated him states that a platelet disorder caused Arafat's death. The cause of this platelet disorder is unknown, although poison is a possibility. Poisoning In 2004, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said after talks with Arafat's French doctors that they had "ruled out completely poison". A 2005 article in The New York Times said that based on his records it was highly unlikely that Arafat died from poisoning. Meanwhile, al-Kurdi called for the creation of an independent commission to carry out investigations concerning Arafat's suspicious death, stating, "any doctor would tell you that these are the symptoms of a poisoning". Former Knesset member, peace activist and personal friend of Arafat Uri Avnery claimed at the time of Arafat's death that he had been poisoned, and repeated the claim in 2012. Another "senior Israeli physician" claimed in an article in Haaretz that it was "a classic case of food poisoning", probably caused by a meal eaten four hours before he fell ill that may have contained a toxin such as ricin, rather than a standard bacterial poisoning. However, in the same week as the report in Haaretz, The New York Times published a separate report, also based on access to Arafat's medical records, which claimed that it was highly unlikely that Arafat had food poisoning. Poisoning with thallium In 2009, Bassam Abu Sharif, Arafat's former advisor, alleged that Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel, had poisoned Arafat by a lethal dose of thallium, a rare chemical whose effects are difficult to trace, via Arafat's daily medications. Abu Sharif alleged that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had held the driver of a Palestinian ambulance that brought him his medications, for a minimum of 30 minutes while the IDF searched it. According to Abu Sharif, this incident would have