Libyan Foreign Minister Dismissed After Israel Meeting

Facts

• Libya’s Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush has been removed from her position after a meeting she had with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Rome sparked outrage and protests throughout Libya.¹
• Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads the national unity government announced Mangoush’s dismissal Sunday and also revealed that the now-former Foreign Minister was referred for investigation over her meeting.²
• Mangoush met with Cohen and Italy's foreign minister last week in Rome, marking the first diplomatic meeting between Israel and Libya. Israel’s foreign ministry announced the meeting Sunday night and was quickly met with backlash by the public in both countries.³
• Libya, which has generally supported Palestinian issues, does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Libya attempted to downplay the meeting, calling it “informal” and “unprepared," adding that it “did not include negotiations or consultations.”⁴
• Sources told The Associated Press that Dbeibah knew about the meeting, with one saying that he approved it when he visited Rome last month. The meeting reportedly lasted two hours and touched on topics such as the normalization of relations, the protection of Libya’s former Jewish community, and US-brokered efforts to have Libya establish diplomatic ties with Israel.³
• Libyans took to the streets, blocking roads and burning tires in protest of the meeting with Israel. The protestors also waved the Palestinian flag.⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²NBC, ³Associated Press, ⁴CNN, and ⁵Guardian.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Jerusalem Post. Israel completely botched its efforts to normalize relations with Libya after its foreign ministry leaked information about the meeting between Cohen and Mangoush. Publicizing the meeting while tensions were so high was a recipe for disaster. Israel’s handling of the situation is responsible for this incident.
• Narrative B, as provided by Barron's. Despite the rampant reports, Israel didn’t leak information about the meeting between Cohen and the Libyan Foreign Minister. The Israeli government is committed to protecting the Jewish community at home and abroad and wouldn’t do anything to undermine the security and protection of people in the Middle East. There were other sources that led to this controversy.
• Narrative C, as provided by Middle East Eye. Though it's unlikely the US put pressure on Dbeibah to normalize ties between his administration and Israel, Dbeibah's political calculus was almost certainly guided by the Biden administration's push to normalize ties between Israel and other Arab nations. However, Libyans, like Arabs across the region, refuse to normalize with a political entity that is currently oppressing the Palestinians. The idea of this meeting was problematic from the start.