The Foreign Ministry of the Zionist regime issued a statement on August 27 in which it announced that Eli Cohen, the foreign minister of the regime, during his trip to Italy, met with the Libyan foreign minister, Najla Manqosh, and discussed a “wide range” of issues with her. Following the disclosure of this meeting, the opponents of the normalization of relations with the Zionist regime started demonstrations in several Libyan cities. While burning the regime’s flag, they called Ms. Manqosh a “traitor and criminal.”

Immediately after the massive protests, the prime minister of Libya appeared on television and announced that his country was entirely against any normalization [of relations with the Zionist regime] and Tripoli supported the Palestinian issue.

According to some reports, Najla Manghosh, who was temporarily removed from her position, fled to Turkey on a government plane, fearing her life would be at risk.

Regarding the dimensions and “consequences” of the meeting between the foreign ministers of the Zionist regime and Libya in the capital of Italy and the recent developments that have taken place around it, there are important points, the most important of which are as follows:

The first point, disclosure of Eli Cohen’s meeting with the Libyan foreign minister, which was planned for months in advance and all the details of which were kept secret, is not due to negligence or accident but an entirely “purposeful” measure by Eli Cohen.

Cohen, who is scheduled to leave his post by the end of this year, was looking to gain an “achievement” for himself by spreading the news of his meeting with the Libyan foreign minister, which had unexpected consequences. This news dealt a hard blow to Cohen personally and beyond the “normalization project.” Because the news related to the normalization process with Libya was not supposed to be made public, the disclosure of this news and the reactions in Libya practically caused the “disappearance” of one of the important links of normalization.

In addition, the disclosure of Cohen’s meeting with the foreign minister of Libya and the internal reactions in Tel Aviv show that Cohen has been influenced by personal and factional “settlement” that has gained important dimensions so that even the macro and strategic policies of the Zionist regime will be “reconciled” by differences and political settlements! This is a serious “alarm” for the Zionist regime in the most critical period of its life.

The second point, contrary to the calculations that may exist, in contrast to the efforts of the US and the Zionist regime to establish and develop diplomatic relations of this regime with Arab and Islamic countries, compromise with this regime is still a “rejected” matter in the public opinion and political circles of the Arab and Islamic countries. For example, according to the Libyan constitution, anyone interacting with the Zionist regime is sentenced to three to nine years in prison.

Even the polls conducted continuously and periodically regarding this issue clearly show the “opposition” of a large part of the Arab-Islamic public opinion to establishing diplomatic or non-diplomatic relations with the Zionist regime.

The output of the two surveys by the “Washington Institute,” the first one conducted in the middle of last year and the second one in March to April 2023, about the level of satisfaction of the people of Arab countries towards the process of normalizing relations with the Zionist regime in various political, commercial, sports, etc. fields shows that on average, about 75-85 percent of the people of Jordan, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon are against any interaction and normalization of relations with the Zionist regime. In subsequent surveys, this number has been “increased”.

The interesting point of the survey is that 76 percent of the participants are against the fact that Arab countries receive humanitarian aid from the Zionist regime, even in emergencies such as earthquakes or other natural disasters. Therefore, opposition to normalization at any level is not an issue that can be underestimated or ignored.

Final point: normalizing relations with the Zionist regime, which is also referred to by other terms, is a “failed project” in the true sense of the word. Even the signing of the agreement with some Persian Gulf Arab littoral states has not been able to give it acceptance and legitimacy.

The fact to ponder here is that parallel to the Zionist regime’s attempts to expand the scope of the normalization process, the amount of “hatred and disgust” of public opinion and various political groups in the Arab world and Muslim countries has intensified towards this issue.

The intense internal protests in Libya following the disclosure of the secret meeting of the two ministers in Italy, which has taken on new dimensions and questioned the legitimacy of the Libyan government, clearly show that compromise with the Zionist regime is a “very costly” issue that may lead to the overthrow of compromising governments.

In other words, protest reactions in Libya are not only street protests but also challenge the legitimacy of the government and governance in that country.

The events we are witnessing in Libya and the protestors who demand the removal of the Government of National Unity (GNU) led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibeh only because of the short meeting of their foreign minister with Eli Cohen, which some consider as a coincidence, is a severe warning to the compromising governments that interacting with the Zionist regime, even in the situation that this regime is in a state of “collapse” and is passing the most “critical” period of its political life, that is not only serving that regime and betraying the Palestinian nation, instead is a disregard for the red lines of Arab and Islamic public opinion, whose hostility to that regime is one of their most important priorities.

In addition, interaction with the Zionist regime, even at the level of an ordinary meeting, is an issue that overshadows the “national security” of the respective countries. The recent events in Libya are clear proof of this claim.