UK's Corbyn calls for investigation into Israeli meddling after embassy row
Shai Masot was secretly recorded as part of a four part documentary produced by Al-Jazeera, in which he was heard discussing the "take down" of a number of UK officials.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: JANUARY 16, 2017 14:00Britain's leader of the opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn(photo credit: REUTERS)
The "improper interference into this country's democratic process" by an Israeli official should be investigated at once, UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May Sunday, according to The Jewish Chronicle. The complaint came as accusations of foreign meddling reached a nadir this week following the revelation that an Israeli embassy employee was heard discussing the "take down" of a number of UK senior officials, including Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan DuncanIsrael apologises over embassy worker"s vow to "take down" UK ministerShai Masot, who was secretly recorded last October as part of a four part documentary produced by Al-Jazeera, later resigned from his post.The footage shows Masot describing UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson as an "idiot," and commented that Duncan was "doing [sic] a lot of problems" for Israel.Duncan has previously criticized Israeli settlement construction and has compared the situation in at least one West Bank city to "apartheid," according to The Independent.Corbyn also urged that the UK prime minister treat the matter with the highest severity."This is clearly a national security issue," the Labour leader wrote. “It is only on [the basis of an investigation] that Parliament and the public will be reassured that such activities will not be tolerated by your government."The Israeli embassy in London has apologized for the incident, calling Masot's comments "unacceptable."
"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," a spokesman said in a statement last week.Since the airing of the Al-Jazeera documentary, titled "The Lobby," Jewish Labour party leaders are considering taking out a legal complaint against the undercover reporter, saying his treatment of one Jewish Labour activist may have been against the law.