Labour MP Emily Thornberry has condemned the secret filming of a UK parliamentary delegation during a visit to Israel’s Knesset, describing the incident as unacceptable and demanding an investigation.
Speaking during a session of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Thornberry raised the issue with Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer, asking whether such conduct would be tolerated in the UK.
“Would you expect, Minister, if there was a visiting delegation of members of parliament to the House of Commons, for the delegation to be videoed without their knowledge or consent?” she asked.
Falconer responded that such an occurrence would be “very unusual” in Westminster. Thornberry pressed further, noting that not only was the video recorded without consent but it was also shared publicly. “It [has been] put on Instagram and indeed briefed to, let’s say, The Daily Telegraph in disparaging terms.”
She revealed that the footage showed members of the delegation meeting Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister and had been posted without their knowledge. “Certainly we had no knowledge that it was being videoed and assumed, of course, that it would never happen. And I have to say, I’ve just found out about it, and to say that I’m cross might be an understatement.”
Thornberry described the wider atmosphere of the meeting in the Knesset, stating that some members had been “quite provocative” and “remarkably rude.” She insisted that the UK delegation had remained professional and composed but viewed the secret recording as a step too far.
“I would ask the Foreign Office to investigate this, please, and to find out why this has happened, who made the decision, and to ask them to take it down and to apologize,” she said.
Falconer, caught off guard by the revelation, assured the committee that he would look into the matter and report back. “It’s obviously the first I’ve heard about it. I’ll look into it and come back to the committee.”
The video, which was posted by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, reportedly featured an exchange where she questioned Thornberry on whether she understood the “unhappy history” of democratic exercises in the Palestinian territories and whether she had spoken to West Bank residents about how they would vote.
This site is getting weirder by the day.
…. Oh please expand on that – in what way.
Leaked reports involving politicians is certainly not unusual and Labour politiicans have not always taken a sensible diplomatic attitude towards israel on defence issues.
Not defending Labour here, but regardless of their lack of diplomacy, its pretty lacking in diplomacy to film a confidential meeting and then leak it to try and gain leverage.
The Israeli’s frequently take the absolute p and they don’t behave like the allies they often say they are.
You are assuming that it was confidential and not merely a cultural difference, where Thornberry expected UK norms to be applied the world over.
I struggle to think of a culturally acceptable way to surreptitiously record and then publish via open source without consent or consideration. Maybe I am naive here, but can you demonstrate other examples of where culture has contributed to this? Or even when Israel have played this game before.
We don’t know what ‘rules of engagement’ were established within this specific engagement. But diplomatic protocol is that everything is ‘off the record’ with the exception of public statements. Even more so with an Ally.
This isn’t a UK norm or Westminster arrogance, but another example of the established international order being gradually degraded.
It is very poor form.
I live in London, one of the most surveilled cities in the world. From the minute I step out of my house, I’m on camera. I turn right onto the main road, I’m on traffic camera, and if I turn left, there a security shop that has a camera trained on me and is showing my picture in its shop window. If I drive my car out of the car park – camera, then on the main road that traffic camera I mentioned before. Ihen there’s congestion zone cameras, licence plate cameras, etc, etc. If I have a new car on hire purchase (or whatever the current term for that is), it may well be LoJacked. If I take the tube instead, my entry is logged when I swipe in and when I swipe out. My image is caught on cameras in the lobby, on the platform and in the carriages themselves. When I get to work, I swipe in and out, if I buy lunch with a credit card, it’s logged. If I nip into Sainsbury’s on the way home, what does my loyalty card do apart from give me points? I finally reach my home and when inside close my curtains for a little privacy. I do my emails: oh dear, logged again. HMG knows everyone I’m in contact with. Whether I surf my local church to check out service times or busty-babes.com for reasons I won’t get into, the ISP records it on behalf of the goverment, but they don’t consider it intrusive, because they don’t log exactly which busty babe: so solicitous of my privacy, don’t you think? Now I wonder what Amazon and Google know about me, and who they’ve sold that information to…
Well what about posting my image, still or moving, to social media without my permission? I have no expectation of privacy on ther streets of London (or pretty much anywhere else public in the UK) so yes that’s perfectly legal. What about you recording a conversation with me without telling me? Here it gets a little trickier: businesses have to let me know (for training purposes), but private individuals don’t. Nor can they upload the conversation to local media without telling me. Except they can always upload a transcript and a few snapshots. (They can, under limited circumstances, get the recording admitted into public evidence in court, but that’s not a shoo in.)
By the way, many of these invasions or erosions of my privacy were allowed and voted for by MPs of the like of Thornbury, against my express complaints, so I have little sympathy for her. So where have we reached? That you shouldn’t buy your dark glasses and false beard from Amazon, with or without the tinfoil hat, and perhaps in Israel the expectation of privacy might apply to different places than the expectations in the UK. I call that cultural differences. I’m not saying that is the case, just that it might be.
With apologies to Dame Emily for mispelling her name, and not pointing out that she abstained on the vote to record all our Internet connections when I might have implied she was in favour like most of her Labour colleagues. Nevertheless, Dame Emily, you didn’t show up to oppose it, did you?
Yes but here they are dealing with a delegation heavy in Labour party members. The Labour vote is very heavy in racist loons who support the Arab world in wanting to exterminate the Jews of Israel. They abuse their control of the Education establishment and Media to spread an anti-Semitic version of reality which has most young people in the UK believing all sorts of anti-Semitic nonsense. I would not have welcomed the delegation myself.
I think slightly overblowing things there. Labour has a small but vocal subset of members that are vocal on the issue and most have been kicked from the party. For sure they still have issues in the backbenchers but staying the delegation is heavy in it is disproportante
Seems you would be an expert on nonsense judging by that pathetic rant.
Sensible approach on Israel ? Suspending 30 weapons licences on the grounds that they could possibly be used illegally is that the sensible approach that labour have is it
I’m struggling to figure out why this relates to Defence unless there is footage of her whacking the film crew, which could effect Foreign relations.
Please can someone hurry up the SDR ? 🤷🏼♂️
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I’m struggling to figure out why this relates to Defence, too, unless there is footage of Julie earning her money buying and selling guns online.
Sorry Rodney, the SDR will have been delayed due to changes in the geopolitcal environment, and its consequent rewriting every week since the start of February.
Actually I’m just pointing out that until it arrives there isn’t going to be much real U.K. defence news announcements. As for rewrites of the SDR I suspect it may be more a case of reviewing the earlier versions that were presented and rejected due to funds being unavailable.
Ah! Lady Nugee. She who thought we couldn’t leave the EU because food coming by ship from Australia would go bad……….