UK Labour Party Starmer hires former Israeli spy
UK’s Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has hired a former Israeli spy to help manage his social media, The Electronic Intifada has revealed.
The @UKLabour Party has hired a former Israeli spy to help manage its social media @intifada reveals.
"Assaf Kaplan will work in the office of Labour leader Keir Starmer, a source with knowledge of the hire said."
Hands up those that are surprised!https://t.co/hDkvXe25XG pic.twitter.com/g8mV6hlEan
— Azad Ali (@azadaliCCM) January 19, 2021
Assaf Kaplan was hired as a “social media listener,” his full job title is “Social Listening and Organizing Manager.” A relatively new trend in public relations, “social listening” is a way for organizations to monitor online conversations about their “brand.”
He was in Israeli military intelligence for nearly five years, an officer in Unit 8200, its cyberwarfare branch.
Unit 8200 specializes in spying, hacking and encryption. It carries out blackmail, mass surveillance and systematic discrimination against Palestinians.
In 2014, a group of whistleblowers detailed how this unit spies on Palestinian civilians living under Israeli military occupation.
According to Kaplan LinkedIn profile, Kaplan was in the Israeli army’s military intelligence division from May 2009 to November 2013, twice the normal conscription period
This likely coincided with the period when 8200 was carrying out the type of crimes revealed by the whistleblowers, in a September 2014 letter to The Guardian.
“Any information that might enable extortion of an individual is considered relevant,” one Unit 8200 reservist explained in the letter. “Whether said individual is of a certain sexual orientation, cheating on his wife, or in need of treatment in Israel or the West Bank – he is a target for blackmail.”
Another explained that: “Any Palestinian is exposed to nonstop monitoring by the Israeli Big Brother, without legal protection, and with no way of knowing when they too would become an objective – targeted for harassment, extortion or physical injury.”
Neither Kaplan nor the Labour Party answered requests for comment. However, after publishing this article, mention of Military Intelligence was deleted from Kaplan’s LinkedIn, The Electronic Intifada said.
Kaplan’s LinkedIn states he has experience using a “digital monitoring platform” as well as “human analysis” to keep tabs on voters in Israeli elections.
The UK Labour job listing shows that Kaplan is now responsible for leading efforts at “challenging disinformation online” about the party, as well as helping it win elections.
