Israeli Diplomat Caught Plotting to 'Take Down' UK Lawmakers

Labour lawmakers in the British parliament are demanding an investigation into an Israeli embassy employee who was caught on camera saying he wanted to "take down" British Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan and other British lawmakers over their comments against Israeli settlements and occupation in Palestine.

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Shai Masot, a senior political officer at the Israeli embassy, was secretly filmed discussing British lawmakers by Qatari news network Al-Jazeera after a six-month long investigative operation.

Masot was speaking to Maria Strizzolo, an undercover reporter who was previously an aide to Robert Halfon, the deputy chairman of the ruling Conservative Party. Masot told Strizzolo he knew "what MPs I want to take down," referring to several lawmakers in the British parliament.

"Can I give you some MPs that I would suggest you would take down?" he said to her. When pressed on who he meant, he said: "The deputy foreign minister," referring to Duncan. He didn't specify what he meant by "take down," although in the context of the conversation it could be construed as engineering a political downfall.

In 2014 Duncan said settlements on occupied Palestinian land represent an "ever-deepening stain on the face of the globe," while stressing that he fully supported Israel’s right to exist.

He compared Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank to South Africa’s apartheid. “No settlement endorsers should be regarded as fit to stand for public office, remain a member of a mainstream political party or sit in a parliament,” he said during a speech to a think tank in London.

“How can we accept lawmakers in our country or any other country when they support lawbreakers in another? They are extremists and should be treated as such.”

The Israeli embassy issued an apology Sunday and said that Masot will be “ending his term” at the embassy and leaving the country.

A spokesman for the British foreign office confirmed the Israeli ambassador had apologized and said the U.K. “has a strong relationship with Israel and we consider the matter closed."

But Emily Thornberry, the Labour Party's shadow foreign secretary, called the Israeli diplomat’s remarks “political interference" in the U.K. and called for a probe.

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"It is simply not good enough for the Foreign Office to say the matter is closed. This is a national security issue," Thornberry said in a statement Sunday.

"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."

In the recording Masot also discussed British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, saying he was "solid" on Israel, but adding, "You know he is an idiot?"

Over the past few years, Israel has been rapidly expanding and building illegal settlements in the West Bank pushed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, described as one of the most conservative governments in the country’s history.

The issue of settlements became a heated topic last month after the United States abstained on a U.N. resolution condemning Israel for settlements expansion. The U.K. voted in favor of the resolution and has been accused by Israel of playing a “leading role” in drafting it.