The wife of British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell said Friday that a preliminary autopsy ruling that he died of a heart attack was not the final word on the cause of death.
Elisabeth Maxwell accompanied Maxwell's body to Jerusalem, where it will be buried on Sunday.She arrived on a private jet from the Canary Islands, a Spanish island group off the Moroccan coast. Maxwell's body was found off the coast Tuesday after the 68-year-old publisher disappeared from his yacht.
The coffin was covered with a white Jewish prayer shawl with black stripes. Maxwell's widow left the plane with her head down, wearing dark glasses, and reporters were kept away. She was accompanied by her eldest son, Philip.
Israeli leaders have mourned Maxwell as a staunch friend of Israel.
Spanish authorities have attributed Maxwell's death to heart failure, but chief coroner Carlos Lopez said the autopsy will not be completed until laboratory tests are returned.
Before leaving Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Maxwell's widow indicated she was not convinced by the autopsy and that more investigation was needed.
"Unfortunately, the autopsy is totally provisional," she said. "It takes much more than two days to arrive at any valuable conclusion."
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Israeli calls Maxwell a conduit
A self-described former Israeli intelligence agent said Friday that late publishing magnate Robert Maxwell was a conduit for arms sales to Iran and that many people wanted to keep him quiet.
Ari Ben-Menashe, a key source for investigative reporter Seymour Hersh's recent book "The Samson Option," said Maxwell worked for Israel and "was very close to the Israeli prime minister's office."
Ben-Menashe claimed in an interview that he worked with Maxwell to arrange arms sales to Iran, and that the publisher's companies made money in the deals.