Israel’s embassy in London apologized for the actions of its senior political officer Shai Masot, who had been taped describing his plan to “take down” British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson’s deputy, Alan Duncan, for opposing Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. Masot was speaking to a senior aide to Conservative Minister of State for Education Robert Halfon. Their conversation was filmed covertly in a London restaurant and obtained by The Mail from Al Jazeera on Sunday.
Al Jazeera has been preparing a four-part series based on a six-month undercover investigation, titled “The Lobby,” exposing the Israeli government as being in “the midst of a brazen, covert influence campaign in Britain.” by will reveal. Each episode will be broadcast daily on Al Jazeera starting January 15 at 22:30 GMT.
For half a year, an undercover reporter with the pseudonym Robin met with “members of Britain’s lobby network that enjoys strong support from the Israeli government by way of the Israeli embassy in London.” Posing as a graduate activist who supports Israel and hates the BDS movement, Robin discovered, among other things, how “an Israeli diplomat plotted to destroy the careers of senior politicians.”
Robin secretly filmed Shai Masot at a London brasserie asking Maria Strizzolo, then chief of staff to MP Robert Halfon, the deputy chairman of the ruling Conservative Party: “Can I give you some MPs that I would suggest you take down?”
Strizzolo responded: “Well you know, if you look hard enough I’m sure that there is something that they’re trying to hide.”
“Yeah. I have some MPs,” Masot told her, suggesting she knows “which MPs I want to take down … The Deputy Foreign Minister.”
Strizzolo told Masot that “a little scandal” might cause Duncan to lose his job.
Duncan called the settlements back in 2014 an “ever-deepening stain on the face of the globe,” and said the city of Hebron was under apartheid rule.
During the same dinner, Masot described British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as an “idiot … without any kind of responsibilities,” but who was also “basically good.”
Israel’s embassy said in a statement that the comments were “completely unacceptable,” and that ambassador Mark Regev had apologized to Duncan. It also announced that Masot would be terminated “shortly.”