The fiasco of the "summit meeting" between the foreign minister (for another four months...) and his Libyan counterpart, who was forced to flee for her life following the meeting and seek shelter abroad, will be forgotten in the coming days. After all, we all have more important and real things to deal with than reporting on an insignificant encounter that was leaked or leaked by someone who couldn't help himself and had to, in the best Israeli tradition, "run and tell society."
Had it not been for the leak and what followed, it is doubtful whether we would have remembered that there is still a country called Libya that has a government, even though it lacks control over most of the country. Unfortunately, had it not been for the leak, it is also doubtful whether we would have remembered that Israel has a foreign ministry, which, it turns out, is also functioning only partially and falteringly.
There is probably a good reason why the management of secret relations between the State of Israel and Arab and Muslim countries, some of them enemy countries, is entrusted to Mossad personnel under the responsibility of the Prime Minister's Office. Those who can be trusted to show restraint and keep a secret can be trusted.
But beyond the embarrassment that will surely pass, and even beyond the damage to the image of the State of Israel, as someone who in the blink of a mouth endangers the lives of those willing to talk with it and cooperate with it, several obvious conclusions emerge from the incident.
The time has come – after 75 years of independence, and after Israel has become a regional power that everyone aspires to, a confident, strong and prosperous country with strong ties with most countries in the world – for us to stop behaving like poor people at the door of a "mistress on the hill" with whom anyone who maintains ties is ashamed and denies their existence.
What was true in the first years of Israel's existence, when we desperately courted every Arab leader or official who was willing to meet us or receive messages from us through a third party, and when we were willing to absorb the humiliation of denying relations with us, as if we were a pariah state, should not be our modus operandi today, in the second decade of the 21st century.
If that collection of worthless rags, calling itself the Libyan government, who does not really control his country and does not enjoy recognition and legitimacy around the world, does not want or is ashamed of our relations with us, he should be honored and go looking for his friends elsewhere. The Libyans have more to gain from maintaining ties with us than Israel's interest in tying itself to Libya, a divided and devastated country still mired in a bloody civil war.
Israel can and should maintain secret relations, even with hostile states, provided they serve its political and security interests, but formal and binding diplomatic contacts are another matter entirely.
It's time for us to stop running after others and treat ourselves with a little more respect, and also demand that our interlocutors respect us. Especially in light of the fact that the process of peace and normalization of our relations with the Arab world has passed the point of no return. After all, most Arab states, and certainly those that deserve the title of state – that is, functioning states ruled by stable regimes – have long had ties with Israel.
And for those who needed proof, at the same time as the Libyan entanglement, an emergency landing in Jeddah, the capital of Saudi Arabia, a plane most of whose passengers were Israeli citizens. In Libya, the mob would have already broken into the airport to judge Israelis, but in Saudi Arabia they were received warmly and dealt with quickly and matter-of-factly. Jeddah, not Libya, therefore marks the direction in which the Arab world is heading in its relations with Israel, and as noted, this journey can no longer be stopped.
And on this occasion, perhaps the time has come to rehabilitate the Foreign Ministry and return it to the days of greatness it knew in the first years of the establishment of the state, when it was a central and leading factor in shaping Israel's foreign relations and its relations with its Arab neighbors.
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