Mordechai Tzivin is an Israeli lawyer who has had dealings with the Libyan government. In the wake of the recent uproar over the revelations that Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had a secret meeting with his Libyan counterpart, Tzivin told JBN about his experiences working with people in that country.
Last week, a political uproar bordering on an outright scandal broke out in Israel when it was reported that the Foreign Minister revealed that he had held a secret meeting with Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush. Antonio Tajani, the nation’s foreign minister, hosted the meeting in Italy. After this became public, Mangoush was fired, and she is even being threatened with criminal charges in her country for meeting with an Israeli cabinet minister and has been forced to flee the country.
Cohen was criticized for being careless enough to reveal that Israel was holding such high-level discussions with Libyan officials from the media, the opposition, Israeli security officials, and others. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even rebuked his foreign minister and warned his cabinet ministers to keep their mouths shut about such things. Netanyahu even criticized Eli Cohen for holding the meeting in the first place without the Prime Minister’s consent or even knowledge.
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For his part, Eli Cohen has denied that he was the one who revealed the secret meeting. And there have been many who claim that Netanyahu was being disingenuous when he scolded Cohen because the Prime Minister knew all about the meeting.
Mordechai Tzivin has personal connections around the world. He deals, among other things, with international legal matters, Interpol, and human rights. He represents Arab citizens of enemy countries who live in Syria, Iraq, and Libya, as well as the Palestinian Authority.
Tzivin also represents Israeli-Arabs with legal issues that must be dealt with in Arab nations. He has met personally with the Libyan deputy prime minister and the son of General Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan National Army commander and Benghazi ruler.
But his meetings with Libyan officials took place in third countries like Egypt and Dubai.
Mordechai Tzivin is impressed with the Libyan people with whom he has done business and thinks they would be open to peace with Israel.
“I meet with people of the greater world, not religious extremists, and, contrary to popular opinion, they are people of the culture,” Mordechai Tzivin told JBN. “They emphasize that Israel is their preferred country for receiving help in various fields. They believe in the legendary ‘Jewish mind’ and nostalgically recall that Libyan Jews developed trade in the country.”
But this is hard for most people to believe, considering the angry response in Libya to the revelations about Eli Cohen’s meetings with Najla El Mangoush.
