CORRECTED: Third Time Lucky For Telegraph Identity Error

The Telegraph's headline mistakenly states that the Israeli Ambassador to the UK was caught on film in an Al Jazeera sting operation. HonestReporting gets the correction.

By Simon Plosker January 09, 2017

Thanks to an Al Jazeera sting operation, Shai Masot, an employee of the Israeli Embassy in London, was filmed using undiplomatic language concerning British parliamentarians regarded as unfriendly towards Israel.

While the story has been sensationalized by the British media to imply some kind of sinister “plot” and charges of undue influence on the part of Israel towards UK foreign policy (yes, the same UK that voted in favor of UN Security Council Resolution 2334), Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev apologized and Britain’s Foreign Office has stated it now considers “the matter closed.”

The Telegraph, however, got its headline wrong.

 

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We contacted the Telegraph to point out the error and it was “corrected.”

 

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The original headline was updated to this:

 

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Except that the article itself contains the following (emphasis added):

In a statement, the Israeli Embassy said it “rejects the remarks concerning minister Duncan, which are completely unacceptable”.

 

“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 said.

Thank you to the Telegraph for making a further update when the contradiction between its headline, which refers to a “diplomat,” and the Israeli Embassy statement, was brought to editors’ attention.

The headline now accurately refers to an “Embassy employee”:

 

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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025

Simon Plosker

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020.

Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias.

Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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