The uproar caused in Tripoli by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s “amateurish” publication of his meeting with his Libyan counterpart proves that this government can’t be trusted to handle sensitive diplomatic issues, opposition head MK Yair Lapid charged on Monday morning.
“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?,” Lapid wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
He spoke out after a press release by Cohen designed to highlight Israel’s growing ties in the Arab and African world backfired. Libya suspended its Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush and claimed that Israel had mischaracterized an accidental exchange at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome as a pre-scheduled 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 lacks relations.
Lapid blamed Cohen’s lack of diplomatic experience for the Libyan backlash, charging that Israel’s publication of the meeting was “amateurish, irresponsible, and reflected a serious failure of judgment.
“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 MK Merav Michaeli called on Cohen to resign.
”The spirit of the Likudiada is permeating Israel’s foreign policy and seriously harming it.”
“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 said.
Former defense minister Benny Gantz wrote that 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. in foreign relations or security, economy or education,” Gantz 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,” he added.
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