This secretly filmed recording of an Israeli embassy employe and a Tory aide was sufficiently concerning to prompt a speedy statement from the Israeli embassy in London.
However some of the press coverage has been overegged. The Mail on Sunday’s elaborate headlines indicate a more serious conspiracy than the story reveals:
Israel plot to ‘take down’ Tory minister: Astonishing undercover video captures diplomat conspiring with rival MP’s aide to smear Deputy Foreign Secretary
Israeli Embassy made vow to ‘take down’ Foreign Office deputy Sir Alan Duncan
Bombshell footage covertly filmed in restaurant, obtained by Mail on Sunday
Senior diplomat is egged on by a senior aide to another Conservative Minister
The Telegraph takes a similar line:
Israel ‘plotted to take down Tory minister’
As UKMediaWatch observes, the Guardian is comparatively restrained:
It goes with:
Israeli diplomat caught on camera plotting to ‘take down’ UK MPs
Shai Masot is recorded discussing how to discredit MPs in comments described by Israeli embassy as ‘unacceptable’
This delimits the ‘plot’ – it’s just one employe not the whole embassy or country – and includes the embassy’s response.
In response to an observation from Stephen Pollard:
I found Arieh Kovler echoing one of my own quibbles about the melodramatic coverage this story has attracted:
