Israeli PM orders ministries to get his OK before secret talks, as drama over Libya meeting persists

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued an order mandating that his office approve all secret diplomatic meetings in advance, as officials scrambled to contain the growing diplomatic firestorm over Israel’s disclosure that its top diplomat had met with his Libyan counterpart. The exposure of the first-ever known encounter between Israeli and Libyan foreign diplomats, a country with a history of  hostility toward Israel, ignited street protests in Libyan cities and sent Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush fleeing to Turkey. Netanyahu’s order on Tuesday also asked that he personally approve the publication of news concerning such sensitive meetings in the future. It came in response to the continuing fallout from the Libya scandal.