Israel cannot be trusted after Libya fiasco, Lapid charges at Cohen

The uproar caused in Tripoli by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s “amateurish” publication of his meeting with his Libyan counterpart proves that this government cannot be trusted to handle sensitive diplomatic issues, opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday.

“The global community is looking this morning at Israel’s irresponsible leak of the Libya foreign ministers meeting, and asking themselves: is this a country with which we can conduct foreign relations? Is this a country one can trust?” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Lapid spoke out after a press release by Cohen designed to highlight Israel’s growing ties in the Arab and African world backfired. Libya suspended Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush and said Israel had mischaracterized an accidental exchange at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome as a prescheduled, prolonged meeting.

Such exchanges are often kept secret, and it is rare for Israel to acknowledge a meeting with officials from a country with which it has no diplomatic relations.

Lapid blamed Cohen’s lack of diplomatic experience for the Libyan backlash. Israel’s publication of the meeting was “amateurish, irresponsible, and reflected a serious failure of judgment,” he wrote.

“This is a morning of national disgrace in which human life was put at risk for a headline,” Lapid wrote.

Eli Cohen must resign, Labor's Michaeli said

Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli called on Cohen to step down.

“The spirit of the Likudiada is permeating Israel’s foreign policy and seriously harming it,” she wrote on X. “Minister Eli Cohen should put his keys on the table and resign. The damage he has done is unprecedented. One hasty publication has ruined the life of the Libyan minister, who has had to flee to Turkey, and has caused international damage to Israel.

השר אלי כהן צריך להניח את המפתחות ולהתפטר. הנזק שעשה הוא חסר תקדים. פרסום נמהר אחד הרס את החיים לשרה הלובית שנאלצה לברוח לטורקיה ויצר נזק בינלאומי לישראל. אף גורם בינלאומי דיסקרטי רציני לא ירצה להיפגש עם שר חוץ שכל מטרתו היא יצירת הון פוליטי ולייקים בטוויטר. מדיניות הליכודיאדה…

— Merav Michaeli מרב מיכאלי (@MeravMichaeli) August 28, 2023

“No serious, discreet international official would want to meet with a foreign minister whose entire purpose is to make political capital and accumulate Twitter likes,” Michaeli wrote.

Former defense minister Benny Gantz said Israel’s foreign relations “are a sensitive and serious matter, certainly when it comes to ties with Arab countries and certainly those with which we do not have official relations.”

“When you do everything for PR and headlines, with zero responsibility and forward thinking, this is what happens,” he wrote.

יחסי החוץ של מדינת ישראל הם עניין רגיש ורציני, בטח כשמדובר ביחסים עם מדינות ערביות ובוודאי כאלה שאין לנו איתן יחסים רשמיים. כשעושים הכל בשביל יחסי ציבור וכותרות, עם אפס אחריות וחשיבה קדימה - זה מה שקורה. ביחסי החוץ או בביטחון, בכלכלה או בחינוך.ממשלת נתניהו היא ממשלה רשלנית… pic.twitter.com/r1RRSjUi3X

— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) August 28, 2023

“The Netanyahu government is a negligent and failed government that must end its days,” Gantz added.