Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seized control of Israel’s back-channel diplomacy after the incident with Tripoli in which Foreign Minister Eli Cohen prematurely published information about a secret meeting with his Libyan counterpart.
News of the meeting set off a wave of violent protests in Libya and threatened to destroy behind-the-scenes endeavors to normalize ties between Jerusalem and Tripoli which currently do not have full diplomatic relations.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu declared that all secret diplomatic meetings by any government ministry must be approved by his office in advance.
His office stated that “the publication of any secret meeting will require the personal approval of ..Netanyahu.”
Cohen has been accused of “burning down the house” in search of a headline.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Eli Cohen assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on March 13, 2023. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)Is Israel destroying diplomatic relationships for a headline?
“It was a disaster,” former Israeli consul general to New York Asaf Zamir told Israel Radio. He himself was fired by Cohen for statements he made against the government’s judicial reform plan, and he is now running in the Tel Aviv Mayoral election.
He continued, adding that what is “happening today in the Foreign Ministry is very sad. Yesterday all of Israel saw how one can destroy diplomatic relations for a headline.. but the Israeli people should know that this happens on a daily basis in places where most people are not paying attention.”
He mentioned specifically comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“Day-to-day these fiascos” are costing Israel on the global stage, he said.
Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) told Radio 103. FM that this is what happens when one “turns the Foreign Ministry into a public relations ministry.”
Liberman charged that Cohen has been busy in the last year advancing himself rather than the promotion of foreign relations so that he can make his mark before he is replaced by Yisrael Katz, who is now the minister of energy and infrastructure.
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