Worker at Israel’s London embassy filmed plotting to discredit UK politicians

An employee of the Israeli embassy in London was caught on video discussing British politicians he wished to discredit, notably Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan, perceived as being unfriendly to Israel.

The heavily edited video, dated October 26, 2016 (with a separate portion at the end dated September 25, 2016) was recorded by an undercover reporter for the Qatari outlet al-Jazeera and published early Sunday in British media. In the first and longest portion of the video, the employee, Shai Masot, is shown asking Maria Strizzolo, a political operator for the Conservative MP Robert Halfon, whether he can list to her “some MPs that I would suggest you would take down.”

Speaking over a glass of wine at a restaurant, Masot specifies that he means Duncan, “the deputy foreign minister,” who is on record supporting Palestinian statehood.

“I thought we had, you know, neutralized him just a little bit, no?” Strizzolo replies, to which Masot says, “No.”

During the conversation, the two discuss a “hit list” of politicians that they ostensibly intend to discredit, naming, among others, Crispin Blunt, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons, whom Masot describes as “strongly pro-Arab rather than pro-Israel.”

At one point the two discuss Duncan’s superior, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, with Strizzolo describing him as pro-Israel, and Masot noting, “You know he is an idiot.”

The report featured prominently in British media Saturday night, and was splashed across the front page of The Mail on Sunday with the headline “Israel plot to ‘take down’ Tory minister.”

According to a report in the Guardian, Masot was reprimanded for his actions, and the ambassador in London, Mark Regev, called Duncan to apologize on Friday. It quoted an Israeli spokesman as saying Regev had emphasized to Duncan that “the embassy considered the remarks to be completely unacceptable.”

The nature of Masot’s official role wasn’t immediately clear. While the embassy reportedly described him as a junior official rather than a diplomat, the title listed on his LinkedIn page is “senior political officer.”

In his job description there, he says he is the “chief point of contact between Embassy and Members of Parliament,” and that he is involved in “liaising with ministers and officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office” and “developing and promoting strategic partnerships with political contacts of the Embassy: senior British/Israeli Government officials as well as non-government stakeholders.”

In a statement to the press, Strizzolo played down the the recording, saying, “The context of the conversation was light, tongue-in-cheek and gossipy. 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.”

Blunt, the MP described by Masot as “strongly pro-Arab rather than pro-Israel,” called the comments about Duncan “outrageous,” according to the Daily Mail.

“To talk of ‘taking down’ a British Minister is very sinister,” another prominent Tory politician, former minister Desmond Swayne, told the publication. “There is anger in the US at Russia’s meddling in its democratic process and no such foreign meddling should be allowed in the UK.”

The Al Jazeera video was recorded by an undercover source who can be heard on the video introducing himself to Labour MP Joan Ryan as Robin. According to the UK site Jewish News, the source presented himself to Masot as Robin Harrow, a pro-Israel activist. The Jewish News, a Times of Israel partner, reported that Harrow frequently tweeted pro-Israel messages under a Twitter account that has since been removed. In July, Harrow opened a Times of Israel blog, publishing two staunchly pro-Israel posts. Harrow’s blog was deleted in December following an email request saying his new employer did not want him to publish.