After firing his foreign minister and trying to shake off contacts with Israel, West Libyan Prime Minister Abdelhamid al-Dbeibah addressed the diplomatic storm for the first time this week. Al-Dbeibah stressed that "his country stands with the Palestinians" and "opposes normalization."
The Entanglement with Libya: Foreign Minister Al-Mankush and Minister Cohen, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Already in the days after the affair exploded with the exposure of the meeting between the foreign minister of the Western Libyan government, Najlaa al-Mankush, and her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Italy, al-Dbeibah made sure to visit the Palestinian embassy in Tripoli. He also ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry, while the foreign minister fled the country to Turkey.
The western Libyan prime minister stressed that his country "opposes any kind of normalization with Israel" and supports the "just cause" of the Palestinians. He said authorities were continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident in Rome, even though it was a "marginal meeting" and not an important one.
انتفاضة شباب مدينة #الزاوية ضد حكومة الدبيبة بعد عملية التطبيع التي قامت بها في #روما برعاية آل الدبيبة #الجبهة_الشعبية_لتحرير_ليبيا#ليبيين_وبسيف_الاسلام_متمسكين pic.twitter.com/WAeOUzOyNw
— الجماهيرية الثانية (@althanyt2) August 27, 2023
Despite his remarks, according to an Associated Press report, Dbeibah met with the CIA director in January and even then expressed willingness about contacts with Israel, but feared the Libyan public's reaction. Minister Al-Mankush also revealed that he coordinated the meeting with Cohen with the Italian government.
Dabeibah, who was elected to office in a small forum, was supposed to lead his country to general elections, but these were postponed until further notice, and since then he has been making efforts to remain in power in every way. The assessment in Libya is that these contacts with the United States and Italy were also part of his desire to gain Washington's support for his rule, or for integration into a new regime. In recent days, demonstrations have continued in Tripoli and other cities in the area controlled by the Western government.
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