Libya’s Anti-Israel Protests Fueled by Rage at Unelected Leaders Clinging to Power

Winfield Myers

The angry reaction of some on the Libyan street to news of last week’s meeting between Israel and Libya’s foreign ministers has more to do with anger at the country’s political leaders than it does with hatred for Israel.

“It’s a response to the frustration of Libyans being kept in the dark, to this kind of shadow politics, secret meetings.” said Anas El Gomati, founder and director of the Sadeq Institute in Tripoli. “It’s: ‘Will you back another government that is not elected and would block elections in exchange for Libya recognizing Israel or normalizing ties to Israel?’”

Presidential elections in Libya were initially slated for 2018, and later for 2021, but have since been postponed indefinitely. The country’s rival legislatures in Tobruk and Tripoli have been unable to come to a lasting agreement on elections, and interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh seems determined to stay in power regardless.

Read the rest of this article at the Times of Israel.

Lazar Berman is the Times of Israel‘s diplomatic reporter and a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow.

Lazar Berman is the diplomatic correspondent at the Times of Israel, where he also covers Christian Affairs. He holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and taught at Salahuddin University in Iraqi Kurdistan. Berman is a reserve captain in the IDF’s Commando Brigade and served in a Bedouin unit during his active service.
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I recently witnessed something I haven’t seen in a long time. On Friday, August 16, 2024, a group of pro-Hamas activists packed up their signs and went home in the face of spirited and non-violent opposition from a coalition of pro-American Iranians and American Jews. The last time I saw anything like that happen was in 2006 or 2007, when I led a crowd of Israel supporters in chants in order to silence a heckler standing on the sidewalk near the town common in Amherst, Massachusetts. The ridicule was enough to prompt him and his fellow anti-Israel activists to walk away, as we cheered their departure. It was glorious.