‘Long live Palestinian cause,’ says Libya PM amid backlash over secret meeting
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah has vehemently rejected any form of normalization with Israel in his first public remarks after Tripoli received massive popular backlash over a secret meeting between the North African country’s top diplomat and her Israeli counterpart.
Dbeibah made the statement during a televised ministerial meeting on Thursday after an off-the-record sit-down took place between Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush and her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in the Italian capital of Rome last week.
Cohen boasted after the meeting about “the great potential” for Tel Aviv and Tripoli to cooperate in various fields.
“We affirm our rejection of any form of normalization. Long live Libya, long live Palestine, and long live the Palestinian cause in all of our hearts,” Dbeibah said during the televised meeting.
Expressing his regret that Mangoush had acted "independently,” the Libyan prime minister warned of “harsh measures” after the two foreign ministers’ secret meeting, without providing further details.
“Unfortunately, there was an individual in the government who acted independently,” Dbeibah said in reference to the top Libyan diplomat. “This requires a harsh response to serve as a lesson for preserving the nation’s sanctities.”
Hours after Cohen’s office issued a statement revealing the meeting, Dbeibeh suspended Mangoush from her post and said an investigation panel would be formed to look into the matter. The Libyan premier then fired her hours later after she fled the country.
Protests broke out on the streets of Tripoli and its suburbs on Sunday in condemnation of any normalization with Israel, with young Libyan people blocking roads, burning tires and waving the Palestinian flag.
The protesters also set fire to the Israeli flag to show their anger about any normalization of ties with the occupying regime.
In late 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed normalization deals, brokered by the administration of the then-US President Donald Trump, with the Israeli regime. The deals were condemned by Palestinians as a “betrayal” of their cause.
ME
