Threats to Topple Upcoming Libyan Government

The entrance to the Libyan House of Representatives
The entrance to the Libyan House of Representatives
TT

Threats to Topple Upcoming Libyan Government

The entrance to the Libyan House of Representatives
The entrance to the Libyan House of Representatives

Libyan lawmakers have been vocal about their doubts regarding a UN-sponsored political dialogue to be held in Geneva next month, mistrusting intentions for forming a national unity government.
The parliamentarians pledged they would topple the next government if they deemed it illegitimate.

“The UN mission intends to selectively expand the dialogue committee by adding more personalities, without clear criteria for how this selection is made, or who these figures represent, or how will the results of its work be approved,” the centrist bloc at the eastern-based parliament said.

“Such actions by the mission have stirred doubts and raised suspicions towards the sincerity behind forming a national unity cabinet away from international influence,” the bloc added in a statement.

If the UN mission goes forth with adding figures to the dialogue without national consensus, it would have explicitly violated Security Council resolutions, the political agreement and the outcomes of the national dialogue held in Berlin.

“It would be considered a transgression of its powers and a blatant interference that would not serve the interest of the nation,” the bloc said.

Doubts shrouding the political process are present despite the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) confirming that it is not responsible about selection roasters leaked and circulated within Libyan circles.

Everything circulated by the media about lists of participants is incorrect, the Deputy Spokesperson at UNSMIL Jean Al Alam asserted, adding that so long the names have not been verified by UNSMIL or published on the mission’s official website or official pages on social media, they remain unsupported.

House of Representatives member for Tarhuna Abu Bakr Ahmed Said, speaking about international and regional mobilization on the Libya crisis, said he believes that all meetings aim at settling a power-sharing agreement, imposing foreign agendas and keeping the same elites in power.



Netanyahu Says No Change at Al-Aqsa after Ben-Gvir’s Remarks

Palestinians gather on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City June 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City June 16, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Netanyahu Says No Change at Al-Aqsa after Ben-Gvir’s Remarks

Palestinians gather on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City June 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City June 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday there was no change in policy at a sacred Jerusalem site, after a far-right cabinet minister said Jews could now pray there, remarks that another minister said could set the region ablaze.

"Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change," Netanyahu's office said in a statement from Washington, a few hours before he was due to address the US Congress.

Earlier on Wednesday, the pro-settler right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told parliament: "I am the political echelon, and the political echelon allows Jewish prayer at Temple Mount."

The compound, in Jerusalem's walled Old City, houses Islam's third-holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa mosque, and is also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, a vestige of two ancient temples.

Under a delicate decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit but refrain from prayer. The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and suggestions that Israel would alter rules about religious observance there have led to violence in the past.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, responding to Ben-Gvir on X, said: "There's a pyromaniac sitting in the Israeli government and trying to ignite the Middle East."

Since bringing Ben-Gvir into government in 2022, Netanyahu has overruled many of his ideas. Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli towns that triggered the war in Gaza, Ben-Gvir has been excluded from Netanyahu's decision-making war cabinet.

Gallant said he objected to giving Ben-Gvir a seat. Ben-Gvir, in response, said Gallant was pushing for an irresponsible deal that would end the Gaza war without vanquishing Hamas.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt are mediating a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would include a hostage release.

Over the past few months, Ben-Gvir has voiced objection to a ceasefire, called for Israel to permanently occupy and settle the Palestinian enclave and has issued threats to bring down Netanyahu's government if it ends the war.