Libya's foreign minister suspended, flees country after meeting with Israel's chief diplomat
Source: Associated Press
Libya’s foreign minister suspended, flees country after meeting with Israel’s chief diplomat
BY SAMY MAGDY
Updated 3:13 PM EDT, August 28, 2023
CAIRO (AP) — Libya’s foreign minister on Monday was suspended and fled the country, a day after Israel revealed that its chief diplomat met with her last week — news that prompted scattered street protests in the chaos-stricken North African nation.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads one of Libya’s rival governments, said he suspended Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush and referred her for an investigation over the meeting, which was the first ever between top diplomats of Libya and Israel. Dbeibah did not clarify on what grounds Mangoush would be investigated. However, it is illegal to normalize ties with Israel under a 1957 law in Libya, which has long been hostile toward Israel.
Mangoush fled to Turkey following the Israeli announcement of the meeting, according to a Libyan Foreign Ministry official.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Mangoush met in Rome last week. It was a small breakthrough for Israel’s government, whose hard-line policies toward the Palestinians have led to a cooling of its burgeoning ties with the Arab world.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/libya-israel-meeting-normalization-arab-world-62d6d37df1838ecba9a604e80b675733
