On 6 January, the Athir platform, which is affiliated with the digital sector of the Al Jazeera Network, published an interview with the former Government of National Unity (GNU) Minister of Foreign Affairs Najla al-Mangoush in which she discussed the details of her meeting with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in August 2023 and the role of GNU PM Abdul Hameed Dabaiba in the meeting.
Al-Mangoush denied that the motive for the meeting she held with Eli Cohen in Italy was to pave the way for Libya’s normalization with Israel. She confirmed explicitly that the meeting she held with Cohen was coordinated and arranged by PM Dabaiba, and that she met her Israeli counterpart with an official assignment and an agenda that was given to her. This included discussing sensitive strategic issues of concern to Libya, including the stakes related to resources in the Mediterranean basin, spe cifically gas and maritime borders. Al-Mangoush stressed that at the beginning of the meeting with Cohen, she criticized the extremist policies of the Israeli government and defended the rights of the Palestinians.
She explained that her departure from Tripoli (in the wake of anger and protests over the meeting) was at the request and arrangement of the official authorities in Tripoli and that she was prevented from making any statement that would reveal the truth of what happened.
On the evening of 6 January, there were protests in several cities in western Libya over Mangoush’s claims that the GNU and PM Dabaiba intended to normalise relations with Israel.
Protests took place in Tripoli, Misrata, Sabratha, Zawiyya and Bani Walid, among others. Protestors chanted anti-GNU/ anti-Dabaiba slogans including ‘down with the regime’, blocked roads and burned tires. In Tripoli, there were protests outside the residences of Abdul Hameed and Ibrahim Dabaiba.
On 7 January, there were reports that activist Khaled al-Tayeb had been kidnapped from in front of his house in Tripoli for opposing the policies of the Dabaiba government.