Libya passes a law criminalizing normalization with 'Israel'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
14 Nov 2023 01:49

The eastern-based Libyan parliament has passed a law that encompasses severe punitive measures against individuals and entities that normalize ties with 'Israel'.

Libyan youth stand over a makeshift Israeli flag in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza and in protest of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, in Tripoli, Libya, on October 27, 2023 (AFP)

Libya's Parliament approved a law criminalizing acts of normalization with "Israel", including travel to or from occupied Palestine, establishing relations with official Israeli entities, and establishing relations with natural persons, which encompasses public and private Israeli entities.

It is worth noting that the eastern-based Libyan parliament, which is supported by military leader Khalifa Haftar a veteran of the dissolved Gaddafi army, represents one of the rival administrations that have divided Libya since NATO overthrew the Libyan government back in 2011.

The new law passed by the Libyan Parliament includes severe sentences including 7 years in prison, isolation from leadership and occupational positions, and the stripping of the offender's civil rights.

Governmental employees will face stricter punitive measures, where all those who collaborate with personnel holding Israeli passports are considered to have endangered Libya's national security.

The regulation stressed the obligation to refrain from negotiating or collaborating with the Israeli regime, as well as imprisonment and fines targeted at individuals and entities that break the newly established law.

Libyan Parliament demands Western ambassadors leave the country

The Libyan Parliament had previously demanded that the ambassadors of countries supporting the Israeli occupation, imminently leave the country, confirming that the Israeli aggression on Gaza is a genocide of the Palestinian people.

In a strongly-worded statement published on its official website, the eastern-based parliament threatened to cut energy supplies if the massacres against Palestinians in Gaza did not cease.

"We demand that the ambassadors of the states which support the Zionist entity in its crimes leave the territory [of Libya] immediately. If the massacres committed by the Zionist enemy do not stop, we demand that the Libyan government suspend the export of oil and gas to the states that support it"

Furthermore, the parliament denounced the hypocrisy of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy, by supporting Israeli crimes in Gaza while pretending to advocate for human rights and the right to self-determination.

Dbeibeh's Government Normalization Scandal

Under Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh's government, the authority opposing the eastern parliament, Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush fled Libya late in August after news broke out a week ago that the diplomat held a secret meeting with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, in Rome, Italy.

Prior to her escape, al-Mangoush was suspended by the country's Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh on Sunday after she revealed that he authorized and planned the meeting with Cohen. It is rumored that al-Mangoush has gone to Turkey.

Al-Magoush's office said that the minister will not allow herself to be scapegoated, adding that she could resort to several options in the future to protect herself.

Her office stated that the meeting came after Dbeibeh met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last month in Rome, where the secret meeting was planned. It further related that in exchange for scheduling the meeting with Cohen, the Italian government promised Dbeibeh to reopen the Rome-Tripoli air route, which did indeed take place on July 10.