Tripoli_ Angry protesters have staged demonstrations on Monday evening in the capital Tripoli condemning the head of Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid Dbeibah for arranging contacts with Israel. The protesters called for his dismissal along with all members of his cabinet.
The protests took place in front of Dbeibah’s residence on Shatt Road in Tripoli following statements by the dismissed Foreign Minister Najla Al-Mangoush about her meeting with former Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Rome in August 2023.
In an interview broadcast by the “360 Platform” affiliated with Al Jazeera, Mangoush said that the meeting came after “contact and coordination between the Israeli side and the government of national unity,” explaining: “I was not a party to arranging the meeting’s agenda, and the government is the one who arranged it and I delivered the message.”
However, Dabaiba denied knowledge of Al-Mangoush’s meeting with Cohen in a media interview on the sideline of the Government Communication Forum two weeks ago; he said at the time, “If I had known about the meeting, I would have said it openly, with complete transparency… because I fear no one but God Almighty.”
Social media pages circulated calls for demonstrations against Dabaiba, accusing him of normalizing relations with the Israeli. Along with Tripoli, other large protests took place in Dabaiba’s hometown Misurata, demanding his removal. Protests also broke out in the cities of Zawiyah, Sabrath, Zentan, Ben Walid in western Libya.
In front of his residence in Tripoli, dozens gathered, chanting anti-Dabaiba slogans, including: “Wake up, wake up… and Dabaiba turned out to be a Jew.” “Oh Dabaiba government, get out of the country.”
In the city of Zawiyah, 40 kms west of Tripoli, a statement was read by the demonstrators said, “we condemn what the Dabaiba government has done and any efforts to communicate with the Israeli occupation. We strongly condemn anyone who dares to tamper with the Palestinian cause… From this platform, we demand the overthrow of the government and all those who support it. We demand that the judiciary hold all those involved accountable.”
According to Al-Mangoush, “Dbeibah intervened to prevent my episode from being broadcast on Sunday because he feared that the street would move against him.” “The scheme was in its early stages, but it was exposed early on,” she added in the interview.