(JTA) — Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush has been fired and has fled to Turkey following a meeting last week with Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen. Libya and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, and when he first announced the meeting on Sunday, Cohen hailed it as another breakthrough in Israel’s growing ties with its neighbors. The Israel-Libya meeting, which took place in Rome last week, seemed to fall in the same vein. The New York Times quoted unnamed Libyan foreign ministry officials saying Mangoush had flown to Turkey because of safety concerns. Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition who preceded Cohen as foreign minister, wrote on social media that Cohen’s conduct was “amateurish, irresponsible and a serious error of judgment.”
