After it was reported that the Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, met last week with the Foreign Minister of Libya, Najla El Mangoush, and that this morning the Prime Minister of Libya, Dbeibeh, decided to suspend the minister, opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to the event: "Irresponsible leakage."
The opposition leader addressed the meeting by saying: "As a prime minister and foreign minister, there are meetings and conversations that I have conducted that no one will ever know about. Managing the foreign policy of a country like Israel is a complex and sometimes explosive event that needs to be handled with caution and wisdom."
"Secret meetings that have never leaked have fostered historical agreements over the years with regional countries. This is not what is happening now. World nations are looking this morning at the irresponsible leakage of the meeting between Israel's foreign ministers – Israel and Libya – and are asking themselves: Is this a country with which foreign relations can be conducted? Is this a country that can be trusted?"
Yair Lapid: "This is a morning of national disgrace and risking human life for a headline"
Lapid commented on Minister Cohen's experience: "This is what happens when you appoint Eli Cohen, a person with no background in the field, as foreign minister for only one year, use another minister, Ron Dermer, as the alternative foreign minister, put a third minister on hold, Israel Katz, entrust the international outreach In the hands of the fourth minister, Galit Distel-Atbaryan, and let the fifth minister, Amichai Shikli, manage (terrible and dreadful) relations with world Jewry."
The opposition leader concluded with a strong statement: "The event involving the Libyan foreign minister is amateurish, irresponsible, and a severe failure of judgment. This morning is a disgrace to our national pride and a risk to human life for the sake of a headline."
From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was stated: "The meeting between Eli Cohen and his Libyan counterpart, Najla El Mangoush, was coordinated at the highest levels and was planned for public release. The Libyan government has an interest in a relationship with Israel that advances its relations with the West."
