Scandalous meeting between foreign ministers of Libya and Israel

Tehran, IRNA - When Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen decided to show the success of his regime in normalizing relations with Islamic countries by publishing the video of a secret meeting with Libyan foreign minister Najla El Mangoush in Italy, he did not imagine that this action would lead to a historical scandal.

The video angered the Libyan people and political institutions, and the burning of the Israeli flag showed that the Muslim people do not accept the normalization of their country’s relations with the regime. The demonstrations of the Libyan people led to a point where El Mangoush was suspended from his post and fled to Turkey and then to London.

This development is remarkable from several perspectives:

1. Israel hoped that the Abraham Accords, signed during the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency in 2020, would lead to the normalization of relations between the regime and Islamic countries. However, the failure of the Zionists in advancing this plan led them to opportunistically publish the picture of the secret meeting of Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen with his Libyan counterpart to make gains for Tel Aviv. This miscalculation enraged the Libyan people, showing that defending Palestine is one of the strategic goals of the Islamic world and that Muslims’ disgust with the invaders has been institutionalized.

2. The incident aggravated the domestic disputes in Israel to the extent that Yair Lapid, the former prime minister of the Zionist regime, described it as a scandal for Tel Aviv. While condemning the disclosure of the meeting, he said in a statement: “The global community is looking this morning at Israel’s irresponsible leak of the Libyan foreign ministers meeting, and asking themselves: is this a country with which we can conduct foreign relations? Is this a country one can trust?” “This is what happens when you appoint a person with no background as foreign minister,” Lapid said to Netanyahu. In another message on X (formerly Twitter), Lapid called Cohen’s action clumsy and embarrassing for Israel, adding: “What happened to the foreign minister of Libya was amateurish, irresponsible, and reflected a serious failure of judgment. This is a morning of national disgrace in which human life was put at risk for a headline.” Hebrew-language media also reported that the officials in the Mossad, the spy agency of the Zionist regime, are angry over the revelation of the secret meeting. Interestingly, in response to the criticisms, Cohen admitted that the purpose of revealing the meeting with his Libyan counterpart was to show efforts to normalize relations with Arab countries.

3. The recent incident also showed other dimensions of Israel’s failures to normalize relations with Islamic countries. First, due to the unwillingness of the member countries of the Abraham Accords, the ceremony of the second anniversary of this agreement was canceled. In this regard, the Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz wrote: “Due to the opposition of the representatives of the countries that signed the Abraham Accords to attend the ceremony on the second anniversary of the signing of this agreement, the ceremony was canceled and the representatives of these countries announced that they did not want to attend it.” Issawi Frej, the Minister of Regional Cooperation of Israel, told Haaretz in this regard: “Unfortunately, we had to postpone this meeting because none of the Arab countries and the signatories of this agreement were willing to participate in this ceremony.” Saudi Arabia has not yet been forced to accompany the Zionist regime, and Sudan, despite announcing its accession to this agreement, has quickly shied away from carrying out its commitments.

Also, while Tel Aviv hoped that with the implementation of the Abraham Accords, Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE would become normal and it would lead to the promotion of the tourism industry, it did not happen. Overall, despite Israel’s efforts to bring this agreement to a success, the evidence shows that the reason for the non-implementation of this agreement is the opposition of the regional nations to Israel.

4. On the other hand, it seems that the meeting between the foreign ministers of Libya and Israel was done with the green light of the Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. A Zionist official also told Reuters news agency: The Libyan government’s statement that this meeting was not planned in advance is not true. The interim government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah was formed based on an agreement in Germany and with the support of the West, and it must prepare the country for elections and the formation of a permanent government. Apparently, the Westerners have promised Dbeibah that in case of normalization with Israel, he will remain supported in the post of prime minister. Now, the interim prime minister of Libya is trying to exonerate himself by expressing his ignorance of the visit, but the facts on the ground show that the Libyan people are not satisfied with the prime minister’s approach and insist on their anti-colonial positions, especially the defense of the Palestinian cause. They insist that Dbeibah knows very well that according to Article 62 of the law approved in 1957 regarding the “prohibition of Israel”, any contact of Libyan citizens with Israeli nationals, institutions and public and private institutions is punishable by 3 to 10 years in prison and a financial fine, and it is wise to be careful of the Western plots.

In general, Israel’s insidious action to show the normalization of relations with Libya, which led to a scandal for the Zionists, not only exacerbated the domestic disputes in Israel but also exposed the hidden dimensions of the interim government of Libya to fulfill the goals of the West. If he does not correct and pursue the formation of a permanent government, he will face the continuous anger of the Libyan people and will not have a bright future.