Israeli official caught in sting plotting to ‘take down’ British MPs

Can I give you some MPs that I would suggest you would take down... the deputy foreign minister.

NEWDELHI:A senior official of the Israeli embassy in London has been filmed during a sting operation purportedly plotting to “take down” British MPs who are outspoken supporters of the Palestinian cause, including foreign office minister Alan Duncan.

Shai Masot, who described himself as an officer in the Israel Defence Forces and was a senior political officer at the mission, was caught on camera by an undercover reporter of Al Jazeera while talking to Maria Strizzolo, who works for the department for education's Skills Funding Agency.

The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, has apologised to Duncan. An Israeli spokesman said Regev believed “the embassy considered the remarks completely unacceptable”.

The Israeli embassy also said Masot would be “ending his term of employment with the embassy shortly”.

During a meeting, Masot spoke to Strizzolo about purportedly acting against MPs who cause “problems” for Israel. “Can I give you some MPs that I would suggest you would take down,” he said. Strizzolo asked him which MPs he was referring to and Masot replied, “The deputy foreign minister.”

Masot said about foreign secretary Boris Johnson: “You know he is an idiot but so far he became the minister of foreign affairs without any kind of responsibilities.”

The official’s secretly filmed conversations and his profile on social media platforms described him as a major in the Israeli Defence Forces between 2004 and 2011.