One of Libya’s rival prime ministers rejected the prospect of normalising relations with Israel days after news broke of a secret meeting between the countries’ two foreign ministers.
Last Sunday, the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen publicly announced that he and Libya’s foreign minister had held a private meeting in Rome the previous week, the first ever between top diplomats from both countries.
The next day, Libya’s Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah suspended Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush and launched investigation into the meeting. It is illegal to normalise ties with Israel under a 1957 law in Libya, which has long been hostile toward Israel and supportive of the Palestinians.
“We affirm our rejection of any form of normalisation,” Dbeibah said during a televised ministerial meeting on Thursday evening. “Long live Libya, long live Palestine, and long live the Palestinian cause in all of our hearts,” he remarked.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Dbeibah’s remarks.
The meeting ignited angry street protests in several Libyan cities, prompting Mangoush to flee to Turkiye for fear of her safety. Her exact whereabouts remain unknown.