touching him and his clothing. Israel has denied any connection to the rumours. Deputy Spokesman of Israeli Foreign Ministry Paul Hirschson was skeptical of the rumours, joking, "All of a sudden, Suha's checking her wash basket and discovered clothes that weren't washed for eight years. Suddenly, out of nowhere a couple of garments turn up; we test them, and presto! There's Polonium." Avi Dichter, who was in charge of the Shin Bet when Arafat died, told Army radio that "Yasser Arafat had many enemies, domestically, abroad. But let them investigate. ... The Palestinians know well how to investigate what goes on in their house. Let them investigate and find out." On 12 October 2013, the British medical journal The Lancet published a peer-reviewed article titled "Improving forensic investigation for polonium poisoning". In the article, a group of Swiss doctors suggested that Arafat could have died of polonium poisoning. The team analysed 38 samples of Arafat's clothes and belongings and 37 reference samples which were known to be polonium-free. Several of the Arafat samples were notably more radioactive than the controls, but not all. The team believed that an autopsy could be useful in this case. After testing Arafat's personal belongings and samples of his body fluids, the chief of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia, Vladimir Uiba, concluded that polonium was not the cause of his death, but the Agency then denied that Uiba's comments were official. British forensic scientist Professor David Barclay said the Swiss team's findings were a "smoking gun", and that it was "absolutely certain" that polonium had been the cause of his death. After the results of the French and Russian tests became public, David Barclay did not comment or communicate any more on the case. The French tests found some polonium but stated it was from "natural environmental origin". Later the Russian tests released in December 2013 found that Arafat's death was not caused by radiation. Vladimir Uiba, the head of the Russian Federal Medical and Biological Agency, stated that Yasser had died of natural causes and they had no plans to conduct further tests. Call for new investigation Following Al Jazeera's revelations, Suha Arafat, Arafat's widow, called for the exhumation of Arafat's body for further testing, in response to the Al Jazeera story about polonium. In response, Abbas ordered a committee to be formed, and stated that there were no religious or political obstacles