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חשיפה: שגריר ישראל בלונדון דניאל טאוב הוחזר ארצה בגלל פרשה מינית – ביטחונית

Tonight, Tikun Olam breaks the story of the Israeli ambassador who cheated on his wife with men and boys–inside the ambassador’s residence!

Israel’s former ambassador to the UK has been accused of inviting men and boys for trysts late at night when his wife was not home. A British policeman filed a complaint with Israeli authorities about the incidents. A further investigation by the foreign ministry’s inspector general found that UK-born Ambassador Daniel Taub, who was ambassador from 2011-2015, violated security protocol by not notifying his chief of security of the identity of the visitors. The purpose of recording visitors is in order to prevent Israeli diplomatic personnel from being blackmailed or compromised. Since MI5 knew of Taub’s activities, the Israeli foreign ministry was concerned that he might be compromised by them or that one of his paramours might attempt to extort payments from him.

Diplomatic security is provided by the Shabak, which would be aware of the incident. But my attempts to elicit comment from an Israeli security source were met with silence. Though the story has been reported in the Israeli media, no one has yet identified Taub by name. This is peculiar because there is no judicial gag order against reporting his name. This is one hot potato!

When questioned about the matter, Taub claimed he had never invited a minor into the residence. He added that the visitors were all adults and that their purpose was “therapeutic” (!) in nature. Though none of the Israeli reports have spoken outright of sexual activity, how could there not be?

When asked to explain why the police officer would claim minors entered his residence if that wasn’t the case, Taub claimed that he and the policeman had exchanged words and the officer had been offended by something the ambassador had said to him.

For some odd reason, Taub’s explanation satisfied the Inspector General and the investigation was suspended. But when Taub requested that his posting be extended, the foreign ministry refused and he was summoned back to Israel. That’s why Mark Regev, Bibi Netanyahu’s foreign media spokesperson was recently appointed to take up this post.

Officials in the government see Taub’s behavior as a grave violation of “ethical-moral norms” (!). As a result, a report of the incident was noted in Taub’s personnel file. The former ambassador was slated for promotion but his candidacy for any of these positions had been delayed while a deeper investigation is undertaken.

It’s a good thing the Queen knew nothing of Taub’s proclivities when she had this conversation with him when he presented his credentials to her on taking up his new post:

…The Queen asked him how it felt to be serving as ambassador in the land of his birth. He replied: “I said that I felt tremendously privileged that it fell to me to raise my children in their historic homeland after two millennia of exile, but I am also aware that in that arc of 2,000 years the greatest period of opportunity for my family was found here in Britain, and I hope to express my appreciation for that by deepening ties of cooperation between our countries

Who knew what sorts of “opportunities” he had in mind?

Back in 2011, when then foreign minister appointed Taub, there was a furor among the ranks of the diplomatic corps, since he was a junior official who’d never served overseas in any capacity nor supervised a diplomatic staff. Critics of the appointment said that Lieberman ran his ministry as a local branch of Yisrael Beitenu, rewarding his cronies and pals. The appointment seems to have been blessed by Lieberman’s then number-two, Danny Ayalon. If only the complaints had been heeded, so much scandal and embarrassment could’ve been avoided.

According to Haaretz’s Amir Oren, Bibi Netanyahu, who is the acting foreign minister, knew of the Taub scandal last summer. The prime minister was more concerned with closing the lid on the incident rather than getting to the bottom of it. He feared it would tarnish both the foreign ministry’s and his own reputation.

In fact, Oren says after Taub returned home, Bibi nominated Taub to take up a highly sensitive, senior foreign ministry position. Though Yediot’s report said that any promotions have been put on hold. The Haaretz reporter also says that Netanyahu’s legal advisor has not objected nor has the Shabak raised its voice regarding the matter. Apparently, it’s par for the course in this corrupt, lawless government.

What’s all the more startling is that Taub is an Orthodox Jew, married and has six children. He appears to be gifted intellectually and attended Oxford, wrote a well-regarding TV show about relations between secular and Orthodox Jews. Before his appointment, he was a junior advisor in the legal affairs unit of the ministry. Though I’m not privy to information about his personal life, it appears this is an example of the repression of such sexual impulses which is almost guaranteed by an Orthodox upbringing, as homosexuality is a grave sin among traditional Jews.

Unfortunately, the Israeli diplomatic corps has been prone to many similar scandals over the past few years. I reported here that Israel’s ambassador to Norway, the late Druze poet Naim Araidi, had made improper sexual advances to one of his Norwegian house staff. She reported this to Israeli authorities, who recalled Araidi from his post. In that case, the Norwegian press took up my reporting and published the story in the local press. I am seeking British journalists who will do the same in this case. Araidi, who was in his 50s, died three months ago after a short bout with cancer.

A few years ago, Israeli consul general, Aryeh Scher, was found to be part of a pedophile ring operated by an Israeli expatriate, George Schteinberg. The latter was arrested. But the Israeli managed to spirit himself out of the country in order to avoid a serious embarrassment to Israel. The foreign ministry permitted him to return to diplomatic service, shipping him off to Australia, where presumably he’d move to molesting Australian children. Australians weren’t too keen on the idea and raised a stink, causing Scher to withdraw from consideration.

I only learned about all this after Schteinberg tweeted to me that my mother was a “whore” and that he would like to “piss” on my grave. Though Twitter has made a big show of banning hate speech and abuse in its Twitter feeds, it refused to take any action regarding Schteinberg’s tweets. Perhaps it bans hate speech when the media takes notice and embarrasses them. Otherwise, this policy appears not to be enforced. Schteinberg’s Twitter profile features a picture of him with little children on his knee holding candy and various presents he appears to have offered them. Twitter appears to have no problem with accused pedophile flaunting their proclivities in their Twitter profiles.