Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah suspended Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush following her meeting in Rome with Israeli diplomatic chief Eli Cohen. This was written by the information portal al-Wasat Gate, which reports institutional and street protests following the meeting between the ministers of the two countries that do not have formal diplomatic relations. The demonstrators, who showed pictures of the two foreign ministers in the street, also called for the resignation of the Libyan government.
Protests also took place at the political and institutional level. The president of the Libyan presidential council Mohamed Menfi wrote to Dbeibah to ask for clarifications on the incident. In the reply letter from the premier, which al-Wasat Gate reports having seen, we read that the meeting between Mangoush and Cohen ”does not reflect the foreign policy of the Libyan state” and it is ”a violation of Libyan laws which criminalize normalization with the Zionist entity”.
A commission of inquiry chaired by the Minister of Justice was therefore created to shed light on the incident. Meanwhile, the Libyan Minister of Youth, Fathallah Abdul Latif Al-Zani, has been appointed to temporarily head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Meanwhile, the Libyan Foreign Ministry has stated that the meeting of Mangoush, who in the meantime has left the country and is now in Istanbul in Turkey, with the Israeli minister in Rome was ”casual, informal and unprepared, during a meeting with the Italian foreign minister”. The meeting, continues the note, ”did not envisage discussions, agreements or consultations, but the minister clearly and unequivocally stated Libya’s requests regarding the Palestinian question”. The declaration distances itself, “totally and in detail, from the use made by the Jewish and international press” of this meeting, “and from the attempt to give what happened the character of a meeting, talks or even an agreement ”.
The reaction of the Libyan Council of State was harsh, expressing its “astonishment” at the meeting between Mangoush and Cohen, considering it “a step that violates the boycott rules of the Zionist enemy and violates Arab and Islamic decisions and positions”. The State authorities, it is asked, will have to ” urgently adopt the necessary measures to hold the interested parties responsible and to guarantee that there have been no consequences from that meeting”.
Sources: Dbeibah knew about Cohen-Mangoush meeting
The premier of the Libyan national unity government Abdul Hamid al Dbeibah was aware of the meeting in Rome on August 23 between his foreign minister, Najla Mangoush, and Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen. Informed sources told Adnkronos. Mangoush, as reported by al Arabiya TV which cites sources in Tripoli, would have been dismissed from her post, after having taken refuge in Turkey, following the protests that erupted in Libya at the news of her meeting with her. Meeting on which Dbeibah opened an administrative investigation.
The foreign ministers of Israel and Libya spoke for more than two hours on Aug. 23 during a meeting that had been approved “at the highest level,” an Israeli source said, refuting Libyan reports that between Eli Cohen and Najla Mangoush was an “informal meeting, not planned”. “The meeting had been coordinated at the highest levels in Libya and lasted almost two hours. The Libyan prime minister considers Israel a possible bridge between the West and the American administration”.
Cohen under attack: “Irresponsible and dilettante”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is also under attack at home for revealing the meeting in Rome. “Irresponsible and amateurish”, these are the accusations against the minister by the opposition, while government sources also accuse him of having inflicted damage on diplomacy.
“Countries look at the irresponsible disclosure of Israeli and Libyan foreign ministers and ask: is it a country with which foreign relations can be managed? Is it a country that can be trusted?”, denounced the opposition leader Yair Lapid. A former foreign minister and former prime minister, he recalled how keeping these meetings confidential in the past helped build trust with countries that had no ties to Israel during the process of establishing diplomatic relations.
“This is what happens when you appoint Eli Cohen, a man with no experience in the field, as foreign minister – accused Lapid – The incident with the Libyan foreign minister was amateurish, irresponsible and demonstrates a serious lack of ability to judgment. This is a day of national shame and the endangerment of a human life over a newspaper headline.”
The reaction of Benny Gantz, former defense minister and leader of the National Unity Party, was also very harsh: “When everything is done for public relations and headlines without any responsibility and foresight, this is what happens”. But criticism has also come from government officials, who argue that Cohen has caused serious damage to Israeli diplomacy. “This demonstrates – a source told Ynet – the amateurism with which the Foreign Ministry is managed”.
A diplomatic source cited by the Times of Israel rejects the accusations against the Foreign Minister, according to whom the Libyans were fully aware of the fact that the meeting in Rome would be made public: “They agreed, they knew it, they were just surprised of the time it was made known”.
The press release with the news of the meeting in Rome on August 23 between the Israeli foreign minister and the Libyan foreign minister was “agreed”. Thus diplomatic sources close to Eli Cohen. “They agreed on the publication – said a source quoted by the Times of Israel – They knew it. The only surprise was the moment of publication”.
The source said that news of the meeting had begun to circulate among journalists, who were asking the Foreign Minister for confirmation. The press release should have been released during the week, it was brought forward to yesterday. “We are not thrilled by the fact that the versions of what happened are changing”, commented the source, according to whom the meeting lasted two hours and was far from casual, as the Libyans claim.
Italy would have been closely involved in the planning of last Wednesday’s meeting, the Americans were aware of it, while Egypt was not aware of it, the source revealed again.
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