In 1997, the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, poisoned the Hamas leader, Khalid Mishal, in broad daylight on the streets of Amman, Jordan. Then little-known, the Palestinian leader slipped into a coma – but not before the Mossad agents’ escape was bungled and Jordanian troops were called in to surround the Israeli embassy. As Mishal’s condition deteriorated under the influence of a mysterious poison, the episode quickly spiralled into a diplomatic crisis. The Middle East feared the worst, but a series of high-stakes negotiations, brokered by President Bill Clinton, led to the Israelis handing over the antidote, thereby saving Mishal and setting the stage for his phenomenal political ascendancy.