A high-profile Israeli diplomat in the UK has stirred controversy by expressing his willingness to “take down” British officials hostile to Tel Aviv, including Deputy Foreign Minister Alan Duncan.
Israeli Embassy senior political officer Shai Masot made the remarks in a secretly recorded video.published on Sunday.
Recorded by an undercover reporter in October of last year, the footage is part of an investigation by Al Jazeera and shows a restaurant meeting between Masot and Maria Strizzolo, an MP’s assistant who once served as an aide to UK education minister Robert Halfon, the former political director of the Conservative Friends of Israel.
In the video, Masot is clearly seen and heard saying that he would take down Duncan because he was creating “a lot of problems.”
“Can I give you some names of MPs that I would suggest you take down?” he asked Strizzolo, who jokingly replied that all MPs have “something they’re trying to hide.”
“I…