Al Jazeera Investigations exposes how the Israel lobby influences British politics. A six-month undercover investigation | dHNfQkNNS2ttRzJNOHM
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00:00This is Maria Strozzolo, a British civil servant active with the Conservative Friends of Israel.
00:05She's a long-time confidant of MP and Conservative Minister Robert Halfin.
00:10She's at dinner with Shai Massot, a senior political officer with the Israeli embassy
00:14in London who enjoys diplomatic immunity.
00:16And the last position that I applied for, that there is a certain likelihood that I
00:17will get, actually, is to be head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Intelligence Department
00:18in Israel.
00:19I'm not a courier.
00:20Their dinner party also included an undercover reporter from al-Jazeera's investigative unit
00:36who captured a most undiplomatic conversation.
01:05He's referring to Sir Alan Duncan, a minister in Britain's Foreign Office, who has publicly
01:10opposed Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
01:14This exchange between the political officer of the Israeli embassy and a parliamentary
01:20staffer about taking down, is the phrase used, Alan Duncan, is outrageous, it's shocking.
01:28You still want to answer that question?
01:35No, he's doing a lot of problems.
01:37I thought we had, you know, neutralised him a little bit, no?
01:41No, not at all.
01:43Ah.
01:44So why is he still on the job?
01:46Boris?
01:47He's been doing good.
01:48Yeah, he just doesn't care.
01:49He's busy with other issues.
01:50Boris is busy, you know.
01:52Boris Johnson is Alan Duncan's boss, and Britain's Foreign Secretary.
01:58He's, you know, he is an idiot, but he, so far, but so far, he became the minister of
02:07foreign affairs without any kind of responsibility.
02:10So technically, if something will happen, it won't be his fault.
02:15The Israeli diplomat features prominently in the lobby.
02:18Seeking to topple members of parliament or a government minister like Sir Alan Duncan
02:22is a line that few foreign embassies would be willing to cross.
02:25It's a scandal the Netanyahu government must now answer for, as well as the British civil
02:29servant who entertained it.
02:31Clayton Swisher, Al Jazeera, London.