MI6 - Vauxhall Cross
Following the resignation of UK minister Priti Patel over undisclosed secret meetings with key Israeli politicians and officials, several questions about the competence of British intelligence have surfaced. UK security analysts spoke to Sputnik, giving contrast answers.
Ms. Patel
resigned on November 8, possibly before being sacked by UK Prime Minister Theresa May over a serious breach of the ministerial code,
having held a string of undisclosed meetings with key Israeli government figures during a family holiday in August, without informing the appropriate authorities, including the UK Foreign Office.
A leading intelligence expert has questioned whether UK PM was intentionally not informed and kept in the dark about Ms. Patel's undisclosed series of meetings,
including with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, by the British intelligence services.
Details and
photographs of Ms. Patel and her hosts were posted on social media, sparking questions over how aware the UK intelligence was of these meetings, according to Charles Shoebridge, a security analyst and former UK counterterrorism intelligence office.
"Given that no attempt to hide Patel's activities appears to have been made even on relatively prominent Israeli social media accounts, and given the political sensitivities of both the region and the individuals concerned,
it would be surprising if her activities hadn't been well known to British intelligence services, especially MI6 - and likely known well in advance," Mr. Shoebridge told Sputnik.
The analyst added that if the MI6 knew about it, then the logical implication would be that Theresa May and the Foreign & Commonwealth office must have been informed as well. Unless of course a deliberate decision was made to not inform them of what one of their ministers was doing, Mr. Shoebridge added.
"It appears then that either some may not be being completely honest about what they knew, or alternatively that
intelligence services were either incompetent enough not to know, or did know and didn't keep their supposed political masters properly informed," Mr. Shoebridge told Sputnik.
No Remit to Monitor MPs' ActivitiesDr. Julian Richards, co-director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, insisted however that the role of the British intelligence was not an embarrassment.
"The UK is not an authoritarian state, and the intelligence services have no remit to routinely monitor the communications and activities of elected officials and ministers," Dr. Richards told Sputnik.
He added that British intelligence have neither the remit nor the resource to routinely monitor social media for discussions about the activities of ministers.
"This should really be dealt with by the department in question, as it was in the end. Patel did not follow departmental protocol and has been caught out subsequently as a result."
Blame GameThe ink barely dry on Ms. Patel's resignation letter, and the "blame game" kicked off over who actually leaked details surrounding her controversial series of meetings with key Israeli politicians and senior officials to the PM.
Among the
suspects was UK's Foreign Secretary
Boris Johnson and senior figures within his department as Ms. Patel repeatedly
clashed with cabinet ministers over how Britain's US$17.04 (£13) billion aid budget should be spent.
Crucially there was also no love lost between the two cabinet ministers over their respective stances over Brexit and how the negotiations with the European Union should be handled. Both sides suggesting the other were behind plots to muddy the waters over the issue.
Friends of Ms. Patel insist prominent figures within the Foreign Office twice leaked details of her secret meetings to the British press deliberately. Yet when the Israeli furor first broke on Friday, November 3, Mr. Johnson tweeted his support for her:
There have been
claims this was merely a smokescreen or even, the softening up of the target to ensure an even greater fall from grace as another leak on Tuesday, November 7, revealed Ms. Patel had met two more senior Israeli figures and discussed funneling foreign aid cash for Syrian refugees through the Israeli Defense Force.
Comment: The analysts interviewed by Sputnik might be too forgiving. Perhaps the question is not if UK intel services knew - how could they not? - but that they thought that a government official 'unofficially conspiring' with Israelis to funnel money to the Israeli Army was business as usual.
If intel services did not know, someone in the intel services needs to be sacked.
If they knew and thought it was ok, someone in the intel services needs to be sacked.
If they told Theresa May and she thought it was ok (until the public learned about it and then she had to pretend it was not ok, that is), she needs to be sacked.
The point that everyone seems to be missing is the degree of control that the Israel lobby has on the whole UK political class, as they do in Washington. It is not a case of one government official acting against protocol, but of systemic corruption.
The article ends:
There have been claims this was merely a smokescreen or even, the softening up of the target to ensure an even greater fall from grace as another leak on Tuesday, November 7, revealed Ms. Patel had met two more senior Israeli figures and discussed funneling foreign aid cash for Syrian refugees through the Israeli Defense Force.
Really? Since when have the IDF turned into the Sisters of Charity and plot to secretly help Syrian refugees? Regarding the Syrian war, Israel has done nothing but provide aid to terrorist groups near its borders, hoping that they will in turn hurt Assad. It has also played the role of the terrorist's airforce, routinely bombing Syrian Army positions for no justifiable reason whatsoever.
Taking a closer look, it seems like Sputnik got confused on this point, and here is the source of the confusion.
The Independent says:
A Number 10 spokesman said a conversation had taken place between Ms Patel and Israeli officials, after it was reported that she had suggested funnelling money to the country's armed forces.
Theresa May's spokesman highlighted that the country's army runs a hospital for Syrian refugees, but said the UK currently provides no financial support to Israeli forces and that there would be no change in policy.
Israel runs a hospital close to its border with Syria, but it is not for Syrian refugees. It is for Syrian jihadists - with perhaps the occasional refugee to keep appearances. The UK government is trying to save face by arguing that this could be a possible legitimate recipient of aid. But the bulk of patients of that hospital are not any less jihadists simply because they call them "refugees". Back in June,
ZeroHedge reported:
[A key piece of data] was just revealed by the WSJ and which many had suspected. According to the Journal, Israel and Saudi Arabia have been alligned from the onset of the Syrian conflict, "with Israel supplying Syrian rebels near its border with cash as well as food, fuel and medical supplies for years, a secret engagement in the enemy country's civil war aimed at carving out a buffer zone populated by friendly forces."
The Israeli army is in regular communication with rebel groups and its assistance includes undisclosed payments to commanders that help pay salaries of fighters and buy ammunition and weapons, according to interviews with about half a dozen Syrian fighters. Israel has established a military unit that oversees the support in Syria-a country that it has been in a state of war with for decades-and set aside a specific budget for the aid, said one person familiar with the Israeli operation.
This news comes as a major surprise because while it was well known that Israel has provided medical help for Syrian civilians and fighters inside its own borders in the past, with the IDF retaliating to occasional stray rockets in the restive border region with reprisals, it was previously thought that the Israeli authorities largely stay out of the complicated six-year-old conflict next door.
That now appears to have been dead wrong.
"Israel stood by our side in a heroic way," said Moatasem al-Golani, spokesman for the rebel group Fursan al-Joulan, or Knights of the Golan. "We wouldn't have survived without Israel's assistance."
Al-Joulan is the main rebel group coordinating with Israel, according to fighters. It told the WSJ that Israel's support began as early as 2013 under former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, with the goal of creating a 'buffer zone' free of radical militants such as Isis and Iranian-allied forces along Israel's border. A special Israeli army unit was created to oversee the costly aid operation, the WSJ reported, which gives Fursan al-Joulan - Knights of the Golan - an estimated $5,000 (£3,900) a month. The group of around 400 fighters receives no direct support from Western rebel backers, and is not affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, the official rebel umbrella organisation.
And
Fort Russ in August:
"The world needs to hear about the Israeli generosity of treating Syrian patients in its hospitals", the US Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt said on Tuesday after visiting the Ziv Medical Center in Tsfat.
"These are the stories of Israel that the world needs to hear about, and stories of this kind show how peace can be achieved in the region", Greenblatt said after visiting the hospital, which took care of hundreds of Syrians wounded in the war, including jihadists.
There you have it, helping terrorists was Ms Patel's idea of "International Development".
Comment: The analysts interviewed by Sputnik might be too forgiving. Perhaps the question is not if UK intel services knew - how could they not? - but that they thought that a government official 'unofficially conspiring' with Israelis to funnel money to the Israeli Army was business as usual.
If intel services did not know, someone in the intel services needs to be sacked.
If they knew and thought it was ok, someone in the intel services needs to be sacked.
If they told Theresa May and she thought it was ok (until the public learned about it and then she had to pretend it was not ok, that is), she needs to be sacked.
The point that everyone seems to be missing is the degree of control that the Israel lobby has on the whole UK political class, as they do in Washington. It is not a case of one government official acting against protocol, but of systemic corruption.
The article ends: Really? Since when have the IDF turned into the Sisters of Charity and plot to secretly help Syrian refugees? Regarding the Syrian war, Israel has done nothing but provide aid to terrorist groups near its borders, hoping that they will in turn hurt Assad. It has also played the role of the terrorist's airforce, routinely bombing Syrian Army positions for no justifiable reason whatsoever.
Taking a closer look, it seems like Sputnik got confused on this point, and here is the source of the confusion. The Independent says: Israel runs a hospital close to its border with Syria, but it is not for Syrian refugees. It is for Syrian jihadists - with perhaps the occasional refugee to keep appearances. The UK government is trying to save face by arguing that this could be a possible legitimate recipient of aid. But the bulk of patients of that hospital are not any less jihadists simply because they call them "refugees". Back in June, ZeroHedge reported: And Fort Russ in August: There you have it, helping terrorists was Ms Patel's idea of "International Development".