A former UK Prime Minister has alleged that a surveillance bug was discovered in a toilet following a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Read about the claims and the diplomatic implications.
In his memoir, the former British politician reportedly claimed that a UK security team discovered a listening device in the personal lavatory of Boris Johnson, who was then serving as foreign secretary. This incident occurred after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had used the facility back in 2017.
The purported incident took place at the British Foreign Office, featuring a bathroom that Boris Johnson described as akin to “the gents in a posh London club.” This restroom is situated in what he referred to as a “secret annex” reserved for use by the foreign secretary. According to The Telegraph’s report on Thursday, Netanyahu was present during an official visit and seemingly used this facility while there.
Johnson wrote, “Bibi went there for a time, and whether by coincidence or not, I heard that during a routine bug sweep afterward, they discovered a listening device in the restroom.”
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The politician, who was the UK Prime Minister from 2019 to 2022, declined to provide additional details to the newspaper. He stated that everything that can be publicly shared is already included in his memoir titled “Unleashed.”
The Telegraph likened the episode to the 2018 discovery of IMSI-catchers, or StingRay surveillance devices, in Washington DC. These devices were reportedly attributed to Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service’s attempts at hacking then-US President Donald Trump’s phone.
Multiple devices that imitate a regular cell tower to deceive mobile phones into disclosing their unique ID numbers were discovered near various sensitive sites in the US capital, including the White House.
Johnson has allegedly been in discussions with former senior figures from the UK Conservative party regarding a potentially lucrative executive position within the Tory-affiliated Telegraph media group as part of an acquisition effort. The newspaper, where he previously contributed a column, is currently releasing several exclusive excerpts from his memoir.
The latest excerpt revealed that in 2021, while serving as British prime minister, his government contemplated conducting a raid on the Netherlands to acquire approximately 5 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. At that time, there was an ongoing dispute between the UK and the EU over these vaccines.
