On Monday morning, Israeli political officials claimed that the meeting that took place between Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush was coordinated at the highest levels between the two sides.

And the website of the Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, quoted those sources, which it described as official, that Cohen had traveled in particular to Rome to meet al-Mangoush in an official guest house affiliated with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that the meeting was not accidental, the Libyan foreign minister did nothing behind the back of the Libyan Prime Minister. And the announcement of the meeting was agreed upon, to be published at the latest on Tuesday.

The sources claimed that the interest of the Tripoli government in linking up with Israel aims to open the doors for Libya in the West and buy legitimacy from Western countries, and this interest appears to have not changed.

The Israeli officials admitted that they do not know what will happen after the recent events and the referral of Minister Mangoush for investigation, and what are the consequences of the current crisis, especially after the Libyans take to the streets.

Previously, the Associated Press reported that the Libyan prime minister was aware of the meeting and contacts that took place with the Israelis in recent months, and he gave a green light to normalization with Israel, but he was afraid of the popular reaction, and that the contacts were focused on trying to persuade Libya to join normalization and the Negev normalization conference.

This morning, the leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, and his ally, Benny Gantz, attacked Foreign Minister Cohen, for publishing the meeting. He described the leak as an irresponsible act that would harm Israel, pointing out that Cohen is a person who has no background in diplomatic work and is not fit to be foreign minister.

While Gantz said, this meeting will affect the secret and public relations with other countries, especially with which Israel does not have official relations.