As Netanyahu and May Chat, a Large Nest of Israeli Spies in London Exposed 413


The Israeli Embassy has seventeen Israeli “technical and administrative staff” granted visas by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The normal number for an Embassy that size would be about two. I spoke to two similar size non-EU Embassies this morning, one has two and one zero. I recall I dealt with an angry Foreign Minister during my own FCO career incensed his much larger High Commission had been refused by the FCO an increase from three to four technical and administrative staff.

Shai Masot, the Israeli “diplomat” who had been subverting Britain’s internal democracy with large sums of cash and plans to concoct scandal against a pro-Palestinian British minister, did not appear in the official diplomatic list.

I queried this with the FCO, and was asked to put my request in writing. A full three weeks later and after dozens of phone calls, they reluctantly revealed that Masot was on the “technical and administrative staff” of the Israeli Embassy.

This is plainly a nonsense. Masot, as an ex-Major in the Israeli Navy and senior officer in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, is plainly senior to many who are on the Diplomatic List, which includes typists and personal assistants. There are six attaches – support staff – already on the List.

Masot was plainly not carrying out technical and administrative duties. The term is a formal one from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and it is plain from the convention that technical and administrative staff are in official status lower than the diplomatic staff. The majority of support activities are carried out in all Embassies by locally engaged staff already resident in the host country, but a very small number of technical and administrative staff may be allowed visas for work in particularly secure areas. They may be an IT and communications technician, possibly a cleaner in the most sensitive physical areas, and perhaps property management.

These staff do not interact with politicians of the host state or attend high level meetings beside the Ambassador. The level at which Shai Masot was operating was appropriate to a Counsellor or First Secretary in an Embassy. Masot’s formal rank as an officer in his cover job in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs would entitle him to that rank in the Embassy if this were a normal appointment.

The Al Jazeera documentaries plainly revealed that Masot was working as an intelligence officer, acquiring and financing “agents of influence”. It is simply impossible that the FCO would normally grant seventeen technical and administrative visas to support sixteen diplomats, when six of the sixteen are already support staff. The only possible explanation, confirmed absolutely by Masot’s behaviour, is that the FCO has knowingly connived at settling a large nest of Israeli spies in London. I fairly put this to the FCO and they refused to comment.

I asked my questions on 10 January. On 12 January the FCO asked me to put them in writing. On 2 February they finally replied to the first three questions, but refused to comment on questions 4 or 5 about involvement of the intelligence services in Masot’s appointment.

On 2 February I sent these follow-up questions to the FCO by email:

FCO Media Department have replied that they refuse to give me any further information on the subject, and that I should proceed through a Freedom of Information request so the FCO can assess properly whether the release of any further information is in the national interest.

What is it they are always saying to us: if you have got nothing to fear, you have got nothing to hide?

I am confident I know what they are hiding, and that is FCO complicity in a large nest of Israeli spies seeking to influence policy and opinion in the UK in a pro-Israeli direction. That is why the government reaction to one of those spies being caught on camera plotting a scandal against an FCO minister, and giving £1 million to anti-Corbyn MPs, was so astonishingly muted. It is also worth noting that while the media could not completely ignore the fantastic al Jazeera documentaries that exposed the scandal, it was a matter of a brief article and no follow up digging.

This was not just a curiosity, it reveals a deep-seated problem for our democracy. I intend to continue picking at it.


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413 thoughts on “As Netanyahu and May Chat, a Large Nest of Israeli Spies in London Exposed

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  • RobG

    The incident today at a French nuclear power station in Normandy, near Cherbourg, has been widely reported. The ongoing problems with this nuclear power station have not been widely reported…

    http://www.thelocal.fr/20170209/flamanville-frances-own-nuclear-nightmare

    I keep hearing that the incident today was much worse than reported, but I don’t yet have any qualified news links to back this up, so I won’t speculate.

    I’ll just say that the wind today was blowing towards my neck of the woods in south west France. Over the next few days wind direction will change in the Cherbourg area and will start blowing north, across the Channel to Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

    Enjoy.

      • RobG

        I would say that revolution is good news, considering that we are ruled by totally corrupt psychopaths who are robbing us blind.

        You know, Michael, the sort of psychopaths that people like you vote for.

        Don’t you ever wonder why Nige did a disappearing act after the Brexit victory? This should have been his greatest hour, if it was all honest.

        A similar thing can be said about Trump supporters, who are all now in complete denial about the reality of President Trump.

        I don’t wish to jump on you here. I do so because there are much greater forces at work, large numbers of people who no longer buy into all the bullshit and lies. I’ll take a risk and predict yet again that you’ll see this in stark relief with the forthcoming French presidential election.

        We’ve been talking about music on here. The Sex Pistols only ever did one tour in the USA, and at the end of their final gig in San Francisco, Johnny Rotten said: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

  • ben

    a bombshell, glad you’re gonna keep working on it. all british journos worth their salt read this blog, if they do not pick it up, it is to their detriment.

    • RobG

      Just about all British journalists thesedays are bought and paid for propaganda whores.

      How’s the weather in Cheltenham?

    • RobG

      The House of Lords used to have about 400 or so sitting peers (none of them elected). Since the Tony Blair years and up to the David Cameron Government, the number of peerages shot up to about 800 (all graft and corruption). The House of Lords now has so many members that the building is being extended to accommodate them all. This building extension is of course all on tax payer’s money.

      You really couldn’t make this stuff up.

    • bevin

      And if the Lords were replaced by a jury chosen by lot the Brexit Bill would go through in an afternoon.

      • Resident Dissident

        Opinion polls repeatedly show a majority against leaving the single market even though that is a key part of the Bill. Worth noting that during the referendum campaign Boris Johnson supported a position of leaving the EU but not leaving the single market and that we joined the single market (EFTA) many years before we joined the EEC. Of course alt right Marxist Leninists such as yourself don’t worry about such things – the ends always justify the means.

  • lysias

    The Ninth Circuit has just ruled against Trump on the immigration ban. This lawyer wonders how the panel reasoned that the plaintiffs had standing.

      • bevin

        I expect that it is just an accident- the last thing that Russia wants to do, on a day that the new CIA chief is visiting Ankara is to put a chill on the new and warming relations it has with NATO member Turkey.

        • bevin

          Russia’s position in the world is so weak that it cannot afford the luxury of allowing rogue Generals, or Secretaries of Defense, incompetent pilots or SEAL teams to make its foreign policy decisions for it. America’s soon will be.

    • Hieroglyph

      I am not a lawyer, but this decision strikes me immediately as ‘somewhat curious’. Doubtless cleverer legal minds than me (which is almost everybody) can make an argument for this ruling, but one can’t help think that it would not have been made under Clinton. And it definitely wasn’t under Obama.

      Trump, being Trump, won’t let it lie, and it goes to the Supreme Court eventually. And I believe that some fella gets to decide on some nominations, in the not so far future. My guess is this fella will select some friendly judges.

  • mauisurfer

    Re: 9th Circuit ruling
    Suggestion: read the full opinion, it explains very carefully why the state of Washington (and others) has standing. The precedents are all cited, it is not difficult to comprehend. Long ago I litigated the leading case on standing in the Ct of Appeals for the D.C. Trust me, this is not nuclear physics. I read it online at nyt, probably in all the major papers.

  • John Goss

    We no longer have any quality diplomats in this beloved country of mine. Alexander Yakovenko knocks spots off them. So I sent this short message to the Russian Embassy in hope that they don’t think we are all warmongerers.

    “I watched Russia Today’s interview with Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko and must apologise on behalf of my country and its media outlets. I have a degree in international relations and have never seen such buffoons as Boris Johnson, Phillip Hammond and Michael Fallon in High Office. You get somebody like Julian Assange telling the truth and all they can think of is keeping him incarcerated on trumped-up charges. It makes me ashamed.

    No wonder the audience of Russia Today is growing and our mainstream media channels’ audiences shrinking.

    Sincerely

    John Goss”

  • Sharp Ears

    Barnier is the stooge appointed by Barroso to become the ‘European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services’ is now the EU’s enforcer for Brexit.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Barnier

    Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier set to demand UK pays £48bn EU divorce bill
    Sky News understands the sum was agreed at a meeting on Monday but France and Germany wanted the divorce settlement to be £59bn.
    http://news.sky.com/story/brexit-negotiator-michel-barnier-set-to-demand-uk-pays-836457bn-to-leave-eu-10761933

    Where is Barroso now? Why! At Goldman Sachs of course, as their non-executive chairman since last July!

  • michael norton

    More trouble in France

    Breaking News
    *Four arrested in southern city of Montpellier for allegedly plotting new terror attack: French police*

    getting ready for their *Electons*

  • Anon1

    “Teenage girl among four suspects arrested for ‘planning Paris suicide bombing’ in new attack plot”

    Police find makeshift TATP explosives factory at Montpellier home

    A 16-year-old girl is among four people arrested for allegedly planning a new terror attack in France.

    The teenager was arrested alongside her 20-year-old boyfriend and two other men aged 26 and 33 in Montpellier on Friday morning.

    Local reports said the group were suspected of planning a suicide bombing in an unspecified “tourist area” of Paris.

    Explosives and other equipment were reportedly found during searches, sources told Info M6.

    Police discovered 71g of triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a powerful explosive widely used by Isis militants, inside a makeshift factory manufacturing the substance, BFMTV reported.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/teenage-girl-new-paris-new-terror-attack-plan-arrest-montpellier-four-suspects-suicide-bombing-a7572716.html

    _________________

    Must be the Amish again.

  • Anon1

    Police in Germany say they have arrested two Islamic extremists during dawn raids in the central city of Goettingen.

    The men – a 27-year-old Algerian and a 23-year-old Nigerian – who have not been named, were detained as part of an investigation into a possible terror attack.

    Officials say the two were well known to the authorities having long been part of the Salafist scene in the city.

    The head of Goettingen police Uwe Luehrig said: ‘‘During the raid we found weaponry which was bought without requiring a permit and had later been converted in order to fire live rounds of ammunition. We also found ammunition and flags of the Islamic State group, as well as a machete.”

    http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/09/islamic-terror-plot-thwarted-after-raids-say-german-police

    • Node

      On topic. Does your concern for safeguarding European democracies extend to condemning Israel’s interference in ours?

    • Laguerre

      Immigrants always get rounded up. So what’s new? The case of the woman who got kicked down the stairs in the U-Bahn was the absolute classic. Immigrant, refugee, they said, but it turned out to be a Bulgarian, someone from a nearby country in the EU.

  • michael norton

    Atomic power in France accounted for over 70 percent of the country’s power generation in 2015,
    reactors made by another French state-controlled firm, AREVA, have been installed around the world.

    AREVA and EDF are building the prototype for a new generation of reactor at the Flamanville site on the Normandy coast in the hope it can be the first of many and extricate them from financial difficulty. This is the prototype for the EDF/AREVA monster in Somerset, which, if built will produce 1/5th of electricity capacity for the United Kingdom, this would, of course, put a dampener on re-newable energy eclipsing more traditional methods of producing electricity.

    • michael norton

      Now I think we are mostly agreed on this blog, that the only plausible reasoning for Hinkley Point C
      is the re-newal of the Tridend programme.

      But why should we hamstring our nascent re-newable industries, they are, after all, the future, nuclear power is the past.
      By 2060 it has been claimed that more than 50% of world electricity, will come from the Sun.
      The Sun is not going to run out in the forseeable future.
      There is a finite resource of Uranium, that is why the drone centers are constructed in The Sahel.

      • michael norton

        This may also be why Dave Cameron, took off the *help* the Coalition government gave to our nascent re-newable industries, the moment the last general elections gave the heave-ho to the Lying Liberals.
        “Cut The Green Crap”

        The Conservatives made Clegg agree to a re-newal of our Nuclear Power Industries but Clegg would not agree to a re-newal of The Tident Programme, while the Coalition was in place.

        Lying Liberals=history
        Trident goes hand in hand with re-newal of electricity, hence need to choke off the burgeoning re-newable industries.

        • michael norton

          Sorry garbled that.
          The re-newal of The Trident Programme goes hand in hand with the re-newal of the Civil Nuclear Power Industries,
          hence the need to choke off the burgeoning re-newables, such as wind and solar.

  • Arby

    The four AJ videos (docs?) were must views. Revealed in them is the deep corruption of persons seduced by money, and, I have no doubt, equally afraid of it (meaning afraid of those who have it and use it for evil purposes). The task of building a social democratic UK that works for ‘all’, that needs to be undertaken by UK citizens post Brexit, I fear, will be super hard with the UK having been infiltrated by the kind of vampires we see here in this documentary. Some (a tiny minority?) react to lawlessness and intimidation (corrupt political operators from Israel! and the UK citizens who have been bitten by them) by wholeheartedly rejecting the darkness circling them while others react by falling on their knees and begging to be of assistance. It’s fascinating and horrifying.

  • Dr James B Thring

    Congratulations on your fortitude in pressing the FCO on their scandalous non-compliance with the Regulations to favour a State that does not deserve a single favour from the UK. The UK has already besmirched its reputation for justice and honourable diplomacy by: First; conniving in helping ruthless terrorist Zionists to occupy and devastate Palestine; Second; by deceiving the Palestinians that “Britain would guarantee the Rights and safety of all the peoples of Palestine”; Third; by ignoring all the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, both in Palestine and in the countries they had to flee to; Fourth; by aiding the Zionists with weaponry used against their own captive host population; Fifth; by helping Israel to murder those who tried to save Palestinians from Human Rights abuses; Sixth; by conspiring to engineer wars against those countries which tried to save Palestinians from Genocide; Seventh; by allowing foreign lobbyists to infiltrate our three main Parties for their own preferment; and Eighth, by conspiring with said foreign interest to veto Resolutions at the UN against, for example, recognising the rights of Palestinians to their State, just to name but a few.
    Your highly valued position within the establishment gives you almost unique insight into who to address and what to question. Please keep up your excellent work, as one day we may all live to regret not doing enough to save another nation from annihilation.

  • Sharp Ears

    Palestinians ask Israeli Court to reject Land Grab Law

    Israel’s move to retroactively legalise settler homes in the occupied West Bank has triggered a storm of criticism
    Jonathan Cook / February 10th, 2017

    Some 17 Palestinian municipalities in the occupied West Bank have petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to strike down a new law that retroactively sanctions the theft of their lands by settlers.

    Lawyers representing the villages, who filed their petition on Wednesday, have in the meantime asked the court to impose an immediate freeze on the so-called Regulation Law, passed by the Israeli parliament on Monday night.

    It is the first time that an Israeli law, rather than temporary military orders, has been directly applied to Palestinians in the West Bank.

    Supporters of the settlements have hailed the law as a turning point that paves the way to Israel annexing significant parts of the occupied territory.

    /..
    http://dissidentvoice.org/2017/02/palestinians-ask-israeli-court-to-reject-land-grab-law/

    A rising up against the Occupier’s illegal theft of Palestinian land.

  • Sharp Ears

    Reply to a gov.uk petition which attracted over 11,000 signatures.

    Petition
    Inquiry into Israel influencing British political democracy.

    Further to the revelation made by Al-Jazeera that a senior political officer at the UK’s Israeli Embassy talked of bringing down a UK Minister, other MPs, and influenced the setting up of groups within the Conservative and Labour Party, which are of serious concern.

    11,647 signatures

    Government responded

    The Israeli Ambassador apologised and is clear the comments do not reflect the view of the Embassy or Government of Israel. The UK has a strong relationship with Israel. We consider the matter closed.

    The UK is a close friend of Israel and we enjoy an excellent bilateral relationship, built on decades of cooperation between our two countries across a range of fields such as education, hi-tech research, business, arts and culture.

    We are continuing to deepen and advance our links with Israel in these areas. Both countries have much we can share with each other and benefit from our relationship.
    It is clear that in this case, these remarks can only be attributed to one person. The Israeli Ambassador has apologised and explained that the comments made do not reflect the views of the Embassy or Government of Israel.

    The Embassy has informed us that the official has resigned from his position at the Israeli Embassy and left the UK.

    The UK therefore considers this matter closed.

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    10 February 2017
    ——–

    The contempt in which the Boris Johnson/Israel friendly FCO hold the petitioners is obvious to see.

    How vile. There is a nest of vipers in King Charles Street. AIPAC have nothing on them.

  • Sharp Ears

    Johnson’s cruel psychopathic nature is revealed.
    Cruel psychopathy of the Foreign Secretary revealed

    Boris Johnson urged UK to continue Saudi arms sales after funeral bombing
    Letters between foreign secretary and Liam Fox reveal UK weapons exports were under review following the bombing of a funeral in Yemen

    Boris Johnson pressed Liam Fox to continue exports of weapons to Saudi Arabia after the bombing of a funeral in Yemen last October that killed more than 140 people and was condemned by UN monitors.

    Correspondence between the ministers shows that a month after the strike, Johnson, the foreign secretary, wrote: “I am aware you have deferred a decision on four export licence applications to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force with equipment which could be used in the conflict in Yemen.”

    In the letter dated 8 November, Johnson advised the trade secretary it was right to proceed with the arms sales. “The issue is extremely finely balanced, but I judge at present that the Saudis appear committed both to improving processes and to taking action to address failures/individual incidents,” he said.’

    Photo of his letter with a deranged looking signature on the link.
    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/10/boris-johnson-urged-uk-to-continue-saudi-arms-sales-after-funeral-bombing

    Google ‘Images bombing San’aa October 2016’ and the results are horrifying.

  • Sharp Ears

    Craig has Maajid Nawaz of Quilliam onside ref Jeremy. 🙂

    He has spent the best part of his phone in on LBC dissing him.

    He also agreed with a caller that Hilary ‘Bomber’ Benn is the leader the Labour party did not have and that he has been justified in his speech that we should have gone in to Syria.

    YCNMIU.

  • Alex Westlake

    What exactly is the Israeli MFA supposed to have done wrong? It’s merely providing its supporters overseas with facts to combat the lies of the BDS movement. If there was an international campaign to delegitimise and bring about the ultimate destruction of the United Kingdom then I’d expect the FCO to take the same approach

    • glenn

      What “lies” of the BDS might these be?

      Far from trying to “bring about the ultimate destruction” of Israel, it merely wants it to abide by International Law, and respect UN resolutions. It enables people to encourage this end in a peaceable manner, by informing them about the purchasing choices they make, for example. You have a problem with this, I take it?

      • Paul Barbara

        @ glenn February 12, 2017 at 22:32
        Absolutely. And if ‘Alex Westlake’ want’s to know ‘What exactly is the Israeli MFA supposed to have done wrong?’, I suggest he ask the Israeli Embassy, as they have apologised. Ask THEM why they apologised, if Masot did no wrong.

  • Sharp Ears

    Robert Fisk

    Despite appearances, Israel is in for a rough ride under Trump
    They might get the US embassy moved to Jerusalem – but they might also be very worried that Steve Bannon is going to provoke a war with Iran. What did the US government mean, when it said Iran was ‘on notice’ after its recent missile test? Was that a warning of dislike – or war?
    9 February 2017
    http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/israel-iran-steve-bannon-donald-trump-middle-east-rough-ride-a7570971.html

  • Winston

    Israel was protecting Jihadis in Syria? Are they not only KSA and companies’ tools but Israel’s also?
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315347/Watch-heart-pounding-moment-Israeli-commandos-save-Islamic-militants-Syrian-warzone-risking-lives-sworn-enemies.html
    Saving their sworn enemy: Heartstopping footage shows Israeli commandos rescuing wounded men from Syrian warzone – but WHY are they risking their lives for Islamic militants?
    Elite Israeli troops rescue wounded Syrians from the world’s worst war almost every night
    They have saved more than 2,000 people since 2013, at a cost of 50 million shekels (£8.7million)
    Many are enemies of Israel and some may even be fighters for groups affiliated to Al Qaeda
    MailOnline embedded with Israeli commandos stationed on the border between Israel and Syria
    Dramatic video filmed by MailOnline and the Israeli army shows these operations taking place
    Israel says that the operation is purely humanitarian but analysts believe Israel also has strategic reasons

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Winston February 15, 2017 at 01:48
      Well, surely the ‘benevolence’ of the IDF is well known, for their actions in Gaza and the West Bank?
      I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumor that at least half the IDF went on pilgrimage to Mother Teresa’s in Calcutta, but it might just be a rumour.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Winston February 15, 2017 at 01:48
      It’s probably just coincidence, but the mercenary headchoppers just happen to be carrying out the aims of the ‘Yinon Plan’. That’s not to say they get any arms or orders from Israel, even though high-tech modern Israeli weaponry have on many occasions been captured by the SAA in arms dumps left after headchoppers have been driven out of areas.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Sharp Ears February 15, 2017 at 08:10

      I believe you meant ‘..announcing Owen JONES’ appearance!! at a meeting of Je*ish Labour …’

      Here’s a sample of Owen Jones’ articles in the Guardian: ‘Don’t blame MPs: British bombs wouldn’t have saved Aleppo’:
      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/14/mps-aleppo-british-bombs-aleppo-syria-2013

      ‘As east Aleppo falls to Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime, the postmortem has begun. How could this sickening onslaught and its miserable human cost have been avoided? All too predictably, fingers point back at the culprits of 2013, those who prevented the west from bombing Assad’s forces. Those who backed the wars in Iraq and Libya feel tainted by the bloodshed in the calamities that followed. They accept that the killing fields of Iraq and the disintegrated state of Libya substantially weakened the moral case for western intervention. The horror of Aleppo presents the counter-argument: the cost of inaction. Those who opposed intervention are also stained with blood, goes the argument. It feels grubby to enter such a debate as Aleppo burns, but the revision of history demands a response…..’

      That’s how he sees the Liberation of Aleppo – or as his paymasters see it.

  • Sharp Ears

    ’As Netanyahu and May Chat, a Large Nest of Israeli Spies in London Exposed’

    s/be

    ’As Netanyahu and Trump Chat, the Palestinians are Betrayed and Shafted, Again’.

  • Sharp Ears

    Same old ready for deletion by the moderator on here which is strange given the subject of the post.

    NEWSLETTER HEADLINES
    Friday, 17 February 2017
    IOP headlines for 15 FEBRUARY 2017:

    Israeli Navy opens fire on
    Palestinian fishing boats

    Israeli Army position
    opens fire on Gaza farms

    Israeli Army position
    opens fire on Beit Hanoun

    Israeli Army violence:
    children tear-gassed –
    homes destroyed

    Night peace disruption
    in 2 villages

    3 attacks (3 Israeli ceasefire
    violations)

    11 raids including home
    invasions

    1 abducted (aged 17)

    3 acts of agricultural/economic
    sabotage

    21 taken prisoner

    http://palestine.org.nz/phrc/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3947&Itemid=44

  • Abbas Ali

    And I always thought the British were far smarter than the Americans!

    Seems the Britons should again hit the streets the way they did when that old witch Margaret Thatcher wanted to bring in the infamous and utterly tyrannical POLL TAX.

    The result: The upheaval caused the Tories get packed and sacked.

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