Israeli embassy official filmed on how to 'take down' Sir Alan Duncan & British pro-Palestinian MP's - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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Independent wrote:An Israeli embassy official has been caught on camera discussing how to “take down” pro-Palestinian MPs including Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan with a civil servant.

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Covert footage taken by Al Jazeera’s investigations unit shows Shai Masot talking with Conservative MP Robert Halfon’s former chief of staff, Maria Strizzolo, at an upmarket restaurant in Kensington in October.

“Can I give you some MPs that I would suggest you would take down?” Mr Masot asks, grinning.

Ms Strizzolo laughs before replying: “Well you know, if you look hard enough I’m sure that there is something that they’re trying to hide.”

Mr Masot says he has “some MPs in mind”, going on to specify the “deputy foreign minister”, referring to Sir Alan, the Conservative MP who serves under Boris Johnson.

“He’s doing a lot of problems,” the Israeli embassy official says, before Ms Strizzolo asks: “I thought we had you know neutralised him a little bit, no?”

Sir Alan sparked criticism from prominent pro-Israel groups in 2014, when he described settlement building in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as an “ever-deepening stain on the face of the globe”.

The former International Development Secretary also equated the situation in the divided West Bank city of Hebron to “apartheid”.

Mr Johnson has been less critical, dismissing supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as “snaggle-toothed lefty academics” in 2015, causing Palestinian charities to cancel a string of planned meetings as the then London Mayor toured Israel and the West Bank.

Mr Masot and Ms Strizzolo agreed that Mr Johnson is “basically good” as Foreign Secretary, citing his public support for the Israeli government, but Mr Masot suggests he is too “busy with everything else” to focus on the issue.

“He is an idiot but so far he became the minister of foreign affairs without any responsibilities,” he continues. “So technically if something real happens, it won’t be his fault...it will be Alan Duncan.”

The third person at the table in October was a man known as “Robin”, who posed as a representative of the Labour Friends of Israel group while working as an undercover reporter.

The Israeli ambassador, Mark Regev, has spoken with Sir Alan to apologise for the “completely unacceptable” comments.

The embassy sought to play down the incident as the footage was broadcast on Saturday night, describing Mr Masot as a “junior embassy employee”, who is not a diplomat.

His business card describes him as “a senior political officer”, while his LinkedIn page lists him as having worked for the embassy since November 2014.

Mr Masot says he was Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) major between 2004 and 2011 and describes himself as the chief point of contact between the embassy and MPs, liaising with ministers and officials at the Foreign Office.

“The Embassy of Israel rejects the remarks concerning Minister Duncan, which are completely unacceptable; the comments were made by a junior embassy employee who is not an Israeli diplomat, and who will be ending his term of employment with the embassy shortly,” said a statement from the embassy’s spokesman.

“Ambassador Regev on Friday spoke with Minister Duncan, apologised for the comments and made clear that the embassy considered the remarks to be completely unacceptable."

Mr Masot has not commented on the footage. Ms Strizzolo, currently a senior manager at the Skills Funding Agency, told the Guardian their conversation was “light, tongue-in-cheek and gossipy”, adding: “Any suggestion that I, as a civil servant working in education, could ever exert the type of influence you are suggesting is risible.

“Shai Masot is someone I know purely socially and as a friend. He is not someone with whom I have ever worked or had any political dealings beyond chatting about politics, as millions of people do, in a social context.”

She continues to work part time as an aide to education minister Mr Halfon, the former political director of Conservative Friends of Israel.

The footage is part of a six-month investigation by Al Jazeera that the Qatar-based broadcaster claims reveals a “brazen, covert influence campaign in Britain” orchestrated by the Israeli government.

It comes little over a week after Theresa May put herself at odds with Barack Obama’s administration by expressing strong support for Israel in the ongoing dispute over the construction of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The Foreign Office said it was satisfied with Mr Regev’s apology over the matter.

“The Israeli Ambassador has apologised and is clear these comments do not reflect the views of the Embassy or Government of Israel,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

“The UK has a strong relationship with Israel and we consider the matter closed."

Independent
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Mr Masot and Ms Strizzolo agreed that Mr Johnson is “basically good” as Foreign Secretary, citing his public support for the Israeli government, but Mr Masot suggests he is too “busy with everything else” to focus on the issue.


:lol:

God forbid that the British foreign secretary spends a single second of his time doing anything that is not directly licking the boots of the master race, oh sorry "chosen people." Israelis really do see non Jews as nothing more than animals place on the earth to do their bidding.
#14760670
No it wasn't the same. The Irgun tactic was to attack empty buildings with political symbol. The KD hotel was a botched op because the Brits refused to evacuate it. The Irgun invented the method of early phone call, something the IRA will adopt later. But in 1947 they did many bloody deeds which they will regret later. Like hanging two sergeants as a reprisal for the hanging of their comradery. The Sternists from the start didn't believe on cavalierly warfare, they were influence by Russian anarchist terrorist tactics. Their tactic was to go after individual. The Russian anarchists called this tactic, "Propaganda by the deed. "
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Decky wrote:Damn Brits how dare they not evacuate a building the second the chosen people tell them to! And how dare their foreign minister not work directly to improve the world for the Israeli government and do nothing else.


Indeed. They were inexperienced. Don't forget that these para military/terrorists groups were the first time Jews took arm after 2000 years.
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The Longest Thread Ever

garrulousunlawful wrote:Can some one tell these peasants not start fucking around with us, they might have a lot of influence with the yankee numb nuts but we made them what they are and taught them everything they know and can embarrass them in front of the world if they get too big for their own shoes.





anarchist23 wrote:@garrulousunlawful

Brilliant. These slimy Zionists deserve as much shit as we can throw at them. Obviously these lowlife Zionists will call this anti Semitic. lol



Wish there were Sternists around.
#14760855
Zionists were never real friends of the English. In the 1940s they blew up the King David Hotel and also kidnapped then murdered two British soldiers.

Foreign agents should not be trying to infiltrate a European state. This illustrates that for all the noises they make about immigration into Europe the Israelis are out for themselves.

Netanyahu has already threatened my country. Who is he to tell us what to do? And why should we alienate the whole Islamic world in which our Christian brothers and sisters reside just for the sake of one small state in the Middle East?
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noir wrote:PI, it's much more complicated. Unfortunarely, the Israeli people are hardcored anglophiles. Not sure if it's good thing.


I am not quite sure how it is any more complicated than how it appears.

England has no inherent interest in promoting Israeli interests over its relationship with the Arab world. It is in many cases immoral to defend Israel when it conducts excesses against Palestinian civilians. There is no point alienating the whole of Arab opinion for the sake of a country that is not integral to the interests of the United Kingdom.
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The Guardian wrote:An Israeli embassy official who plotted to “take down” MPs regarded as hostile has also set up a number of political organisations in the UK that operated as though entirely independent.

Shai Masot was filmed covertly as he boasted about establishing several groups, at least one of which was intended to influence Labour party policy, while appearing to obscure their links to Israel.

The disclosure comes as Labour demanded the government launch an immediate inquiry into “improper interference in our democratic politics”. A former Tory government minister also called for an inquiry into the Israeli embassy’s links with two organisations, Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) and Labour Friends of Israel (LFI).

Meanwhile, Masot is being sent back to Israel in disgrace, and a civil servant and Conservative official who was also filmed discussing ways to discredit MPs has resigned from her post.

Masot and Maria Strizzolo, a manager with the Skills Funding Agency and aide to Robert Halfon, an education minister, were filmed by a man they knew as Robin, who they believed to be an LFI activist but who was actually an undercover reporter with al-Jazeera’s investigative unit.

Among the MPs that Masot and Strizzolo discussed “taking down” was Sir Alan Duncan, a foreign minister and a vocal supporter of a Palestinian state.

In the latest recordings, Masot boasts of establishing organisations “in Israel and here [in the UK]”. When asked what he means, the Israeli official replies: “Nothing I can share, but yeah, adding: “Yeah, because there are things that, you know, happen, but it’s good to leave those organisations independent. But we help them, actually.”

LFI and CFI are established organisations, founded in the 1950s and 1970s respectively to support Israel and combat antisemitism. The footage taken by al-Jazeera shows Masot wanted Robin to head up a new organisation, Young Labour Friends of Israel.

At a meeting last July, Masot explains that he had the idea for a group called Young Conservative Friends of Israel in 2015, and wanted to set up a Young Labour Friends of Israel at that time. “When I tried to do the same in Labour they had a crisis back then with Corbyn. So instead of that I took a delegation to Israel … I took a Fabians group to Israel,” he says.

Masot also says in the footage of that meeting that he does not wish to see Jeremy Corbyn win the leadership contest with Owen Smith. During another meeting, he describes Corbyn as “a crazy leader”.

“I would prefer that the party will not stay with Corbyn,” he says. Referring to a number of Labour MPs who had recently visited the West Bank, he adds: “Some of them are against Corbyn, so who knows?”

Masot advised Robin that he should launch the Young Labour Friends of Israel by first organising a reception, and then setting up an email list.LFI needs to be rejuvenated by a new youth group, he adds.

“Not a lot of young people want to be affiliated. For years, every MP that joined the parliament joined the LFI. They’re not doing it any more in the Labour party. CFI, they’re doing it automatically. All the 14 new MPs who got elected in the last elections did it automatically. In the LFI it didn’t happen. We need to get more people on board. It’s a lot of work, actually.”

At a meeting the following month, Masot suggests Robin might want to be chairman of the group he is establishing. He also says Robin should not tell other people that the embassy has established the group. “LFI is an independent organisation. No one likes that someone is managing his organisation. That really is the first rule in politics.”

In September, while on a train to Liverpool for the Labour conference, Masot tells Robin he is also establishing a group called City Friends of Israel. Once in Liverpool, the footage shows Masot introducing Robin at conference social events as the “Young LFI chairman”.

The disclosure that Masot was also attempting to influence Labour affairs by establishing new political groups is likely to enrage the party’s leaders, who have already characterised the threat to “take down” MPs as a serious national security issue.

The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, said: “The exposure of an Israeli embassy official discussing how to bring down or discredit a government minister and other MPs because of their views on the Middle East is extremely disturbing.

“This is a national security issue. The embassy official involved should be withdrawn and the government should launch an immediate inquiry into the extent of this improper interference and demand from the Israeli government that it be brought to an end.”

One former minister in David Cameron’s government said the embassy’s efforts to exert improper influence on British public life went far further than any plot to “take down” unhelpful members of parliament.

Writing anonymously in the Mail on Sunday, the former minister said: “British foreign policy is in hock to Israeli influence at the heart of our politics, and those in authority have ignored what is going on.

“For years the CFI and LFI have worked with – even for – the Israeli embassy to promote Israeli policy and thwart UK government policy and the actions of ministers who try to defend Palestinian rights.”

The former minister said there needed to be a full inquiry into the Israeli embassy’s links with CFI and LFI, and that while political parties should welcome funding from the UK’s Jewish community, they should not accept any engagement linked to Israel until it ceases new developments on Palestinian land.

“This opaque funding and underhand conduct is a national disgrace and humiliation and must be stamped out,” he wrote.

After an apology from the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, the British government said it considered the matter closed. However, Alex Salmond, the Scottish National party’s foreign affairs spokesman, said this position was not acceptable.

“I would expect the UK government to fully investigate this matter so that we can be confident our elected officials are free to carry out their jobs to the best of their ability and without fear of having their reputation smeared by embassy officials who do not agree with their views.”

Masot’s precise role at the embassy is unclear. He is known to be a former officer in the Israeli navy and is thought to remain an employee of the Israeli defence ministry. His embassy business card describes him as a senior political officer, but the embassy says he is not a diplomat.

In his LinkedIn profile, Masot says his work includes “founding several political support groups in the UK to maximise the Israeli ‘firewall’”. He also says he helped to secure “adjustments to legislation” in the UK.

Former diplomats said Masot was highly unlikely to operating without authority. Sir William Patey, a former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan, said: “The idea that he would be operating on his own I find fanciful. We know there is a lobby in this country that seeks to portray in the best possible light and seeks to isolate and denigrate critics of Israeli policy.”

A senior Conservative said: “No MP who has taken an active interest in the affairs of the Middle East, not least the central issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will be unaware of the strength of the Israeli lobby. Like Israel itself they are powerful and effective and sail pretty close to the line of what is normally acceptable.”
#14761008
Decky wrote:God forbid that the British foreign secretary spends a single second of his time doing anything that is not directly licking the boots of the master race, oh sorry "chosen people." Israelis really do see non Jews as nothing more than animals place on the earth to do their bidding.

I think its time to recognise that its is not Jews that are abnormal, but we Gentile Europeans. Look at the the Sikhs, the Hindus, the Han, the Japanese or even the Zulus. Do they feel ashamed about their successes like we White people?

Lets stop worshipping Semitic Gods. And lets up root the vile ideology of Semitism. The evil lie that the creator of the universe spoke to humanity in a Semitic language. And if Europeans must worship Jesus, let it be a blue eyed, blonde Jesus.

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