{"id":29544,"date":"2017-01-08T23:26:51","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T23:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=29544"},"modified":"2017-01-08T23:26:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T23:26:51","slug":"israel-apologises-over-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=29544","title":{"rendered":"Israel apologises over comments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"images\"Afp, London: The Israeli embassy in London sought to head off a diplomatic storm yesterday, apologising after one of its staff was caught on camera threatening to “take down” a British government minister.<\/p>\n

The Mail on Sunday newspaper posted the footage showing the embassy employee telling an undercover reporter from Al-Jazeera that “I want to take down… the Deputy Foreign Minister” (Alan Duncan) — a long-time critic of Israel, and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's second-in-command.<\/p>\n

Duncan was “doing a lot of problems,” he added.<\/p>\n

The embassy issued an immediate apology, saying it “rejects the remarks concerning Minister Duncan, which are completely unacceptable”.<\/p>\n

“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,” it added.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Mark Regev apologised personally to Duncan on Friday, according to the embassy. Britain's Foreign Office confirmed they had received an apology, and that it now considered “the matter closed”.<\/p>\n

The footage was recorded at a restaurant opposite the Israeli embassy in Kensington, west London, during a meeting attended by Maria Strizzolo, senior aide to Conservative Education Minister Robert Halfon.<\/p>\n

Strizzolo spoke of her influence in helping Halfon become a minister, prompting the embassy staffer to ask her “can you do the opposite stuff as well?”<\/p>\n

However, Strizzolo said Duncan would be “impossible to rebuff” due to having powerful “friends”, but then suggested “a little scandal, maybe?”<\/p>\n

The embassy employee also called foreign office chief Johnson an “idiot” and mocked “crazy” opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his “weirdo” supporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Afp, London: The Israeli embassy in London sought to head off a diplomatic storm yesterday, apologising after one of its staff was caught on camera threatening to “take down” a British government minister. The Mail on Sunday newspaper posted the footage showing the embassy employee telling an undercover reporter from Al-Jazeera that “I want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n