Backlash Looms after Reports of Libyan Oil Tanker Docks in Occupied Haifa: What's the Story?

The issue of relations between Libya and "Israel" has reignited after reports emerged of a Tripoli-owned oil tanker docking in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

This marks the second such incident within a year, renewing concerns about the potential ties between the two. The development unfolds amid a brutal Israeli offensive on Gaza.

'Anwaar al-Naser'

Tracking websites revealed that the oil tanker "Anwaar al-Naser," owned by the Libyan government, docked at Haifa Port in the occupied Palestinian territories, arriving from Tripoli.

The MarineTraffic website, which monitors ship locations and information globally, showed that the tanker sailed from Tripoli to Haifa and then to Cyprus.

Libyan activists also shared the tanker’s route, according to various tracking sites, confirming the same path for the vessel, which is one of the prominent ships in the Libyan oil fleet and has been in service for years.

Hours after the news circulated, the National Oil Corporation denied the claims about one of its tankers docking at a port in the occupied Palestinian territories, describing it as an attempt to “distort the Corporation's image.”

In a brief statement released late on August 21, the Corporation stated that the "relevant management is in continuous contact and closely monitoring tanker movements and shipping operations worldwide, including the Mediterranean Sea, using modern and reliable tracking and navigation systems."

At the same time, the Libyan News Observatory Almarsad reported that the accurate information is that "the tanker is scheduled for a journey between Tripoli and Cyprus to transport fuel, not to Israel."

In a post on X, the newspaper attributed the tracking error to “ongoing Israeli military interference with GPS navigation systems in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

It explained that this interference “causes ships and aircraft to appear in incorrect locations, such as Israeli civilian aircraft showing up at Beirut Airport and Syrian planes in Tel Aviv, as well as others flying in circles in incorrect positions. It also led to the Libyan tanker Anwaar al-Naser appearing in Haifa when it was actually in Cyprus.”

This claim was supported by reports from GPS World and Reuters, which recently published information about Israeli continued interference with navigation systems in the Eastern Mediterranean.

On March 22, 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon announced that the country would file an urgent complaint with the United Nations Security Council regarding what it described as Israeli Occupation’s violation of its sovereignty through interference with its navigation systems.

On July 3, 2024, The New York Times (NYT) said, “Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have identified an Israeli air base as a key source of GPS attacks that have disrupted civilian airline navigation in the Middle East.”

“The attacks, known as spoofing, send out manipulated GPS signals that make airplane instruments misread their location.”

The researchers, Todd Humphreys and Zach Clements, said they are “highly confident” that the spoofing attacks originated from Ein Shemer Airfield in northern Israel. The Israeli military declined to comment on Tuesday, as quoted by NYT.

The American Daily Newspaper also reported that “spoofing, along with GPS jamming, has sharply risen over the last three years, particularly near war zones in Ukraine and Gaza, where militaries interfere with navigation signals to thwart missile and drone attacks.”

The Middle East has recently emerged “as a spoofing hot spot” for such manipulation. 

The attacks have made pilots think that they were above airports in Beirut or Cairo when they were not, according to researchers at SkAI Data Services and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, who analyzed data from the OpenSky Network.

Suspicious Precedents

Despite the denials and skepticism, many activists engaged with the news of the Libyan tanker docking in Haifa, recalling a controversy from about a year ago.

In August 2023, former Libyan Foreign Minister Najla el-Mangoush held a meeting in Rome with her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, which led to Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh suspending her from office and referring her for investigation on the 27th of the same month.

This incident raised questions about Libya’s stance on normalization with “Israel,” which is considered criminal in the country, amid efforts by political and military elites to retain their positions of power and influence.

Libya is experiencing a power struggle between a government appointed by the House of Representatives in early 2022 and Dbeibeh’s government, which refuses to transfer power except to a government formed through a newly elected parliament. Political factions have attempted to hold elections multiple times without success.

After the recent meeting disclosure sparked intense debate and large protests, Dbeibeh decided to dismiss el-Mangoush and emphasized that her actions did not represent the government or the people’s stance.

Dbeibeh’s decision to suspend el-Mangoush suggests he was not aware of the meeting. However, two senior Libyan government officials, who requested anonymity, stated that the Prime Minister was aware of the discussions between his Foreign Minister and the senior Israeli diplomat, 

According to The Times of Israel, which cited information from the Associated Press’ report published on August 28, Dbeibeh had approved the meeting in July 2023 during his visit to Rome. The report added that the Prime Minister’s office arranged the meeting in coordination with el-Mangoush.

The second official told the agency that the meeting lasted about two hours, and el-Mangoush briefed Dbeibeh on the matter directly upon her return to Tripoli.

He stated that the meeting concluded efforts mediated by the United States to have Libya join the Arab countries establishing diplomatic relations with “Israel.”

He explained that normalization of relations was first discussed in a meeting between Dbeibeh and CIA Director William Burns in Tripoli in January 2023.

He noted that the Libyan Prime Minister gave initial approval to join the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords but was concerned about the potential for severe public backlash in a country known for its support of the Palestinian cause, according to The Times of Israel.

Observers believe the crisis began with the disclosure of the meeting, rather than Dbeibeh's rejection of normalization, citing previous leaks about his relationship with “Israel.”

Libyan local sources reported that a Libyan official recently visited “Israel” to prepare for the el-Mangoush-Cohen meeting, carrying messages from Dbeibeh to the Israeli government during a stopover before reaching Ramallah.

The Sources confirmed that previous talks occurred between members of Dbeibeh’s government and the Israeli side, facilitated by “Western-American” intermediaries, in exchange for keeping his government in power.

Hebrew radio reported at the end of August 2023 that the el-Mangoush-Cohen meeting was fully coordinated with senior Libyan leadership. According to these sources, the Libyan Prime Minister seeks to use “Israel” as a bridge to the West and the U.S. administration.

The Italian Institute of International Political Studies (ISPI) deemed Dbeibeh's denial of any intent to initiate normalization and his decision to investigate the meeting as illogical.

On August 28, it explained that such a high-level meeting would not occur without the highest level of approval, and the fact that it was held in Rome suggests a need for secrecy.

Former Libyan Minister Omar Hassan al-Qweiri told Hebrew i24NEWS that after the news leaked and the angry reaction inside Libya, especially from Dbeibeh's opponents, the Prime Minister had to distance himself from the meeting and declare that it was a personal action by the minister.

Al-Qweiri added that “suspending el-Mangoush is a scenario to absorb the anger of the Libyan street, but these matters were arranged between them.”

“Dbeibeh is attempting by all means to salvage his weak government by finding a path to the White House through relations with Israel,” as quoted by i24NEWS. 

Intense Race

Eurasia Review reported on Dbeibeh’s continued desire for normalization with “Israel” even after the October 2023 Operation al-Aqsa Flood, carried out by Hamas in Gaza border settlements.

On January 14, 2024, it stated that Dbeibeh and coup leader Khalifa Haftar were working towards this goal.

In strict secrecy, Haftar’s plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv twice, first on November 2, 2021, and again in mid-January 2022.

According to Middle East Monitor (MEM), citing information from Haaretz, the purpose of these visits was to seek diplomatic relations in order to gain direct Israeli military assistance in the ongoing power struggle.

After losing most of his domestic influence, coup leader Haftar, supported by the Tobruk-based parliament, began aligning with “Israel” through his son, Saddam, in anticipation of the presidential elections scheduled for December 24, 2021, which did not occur.

“Israel” has not detached itself from Libya’s "complex situation" for years, as confirmed by the Jerusalem Post on July 27, 2020, which reported that Israeli officers trained Haftar’s militias in urban warfare in areas under their control during August and September 2019.

One of the most alarming details in the widely circulated Hebrew newspaper report, as cited by Anadolu Agency, is that between 2017 and 2019, Haftar met with Israeli intelligence operatives (Mossad) on several occasions in Cairo. They provided his militias with night vision equipment and sniper rifles.

A group of Knesset members held a conference with political figures close to Haftar on the Greek island of Rhodes in 2017, under the title “Reconciliation Between Israel and Libya,” as per The Times of Israel.

Raphael Luzon, Chairman of the Union of Libyan Jews in “Israel,” justified his participation in the conference by stating that all factions in the country want to build relations with Tel Aviv, according to the same source.

In contrast, the Libyan people strongly reject normalization and stand firmly behind the Palestinian cause, as demonstrated by the widespread protests following the el-Mangoush incident.

“Since its inception in 1948, the Israeli state has aimed to combine its military and technological superiority with its political and diplomatic capabilities, as well as its reliance on American pressure, to achieve its goal of strategic normalization,” according to Eurasia Review’s report.

“Despite the decline of Libya’s influence in the region, particularly after the war and internal conflicts following Muammar Gaddafi’s reign, the Israeli state is still attempting to establish normalization with Libya.”

The same report pointed out that the ongoing efforts by “Israel” to normalize relations with Libya, “which have been ongoing for almost twenty years, indicate the seriousness with which they view any potential relationship between themselves and the internationally recognized regime in Tripoli, or even between themselves and General Khalifa Haftar and his supporting forces.”

It noted that “Israel aims to form a government that would cancel the water border demarcation agreement with Turkiye, as it would grant Turkiye control over the area through which the planned pipeline carrying Israeli gas to Europe would pass. This would potentially place Israel’s gas exports at the mercy of Turkish decisions.”

“Israel’s strategic plan includes the construction of undersea gas pipelines as part of the EastMed project to transport Israeli gas to Europe.”

However, Eurasia Review’s report added, “The planned route intersects with the maritime area between Turkey and Libya, as defined by a 2019 agreement between Ankara and the Libyan government.”

Securing Turkiye's approval “is challenging due to the ongoing political dispute and competition with Turkiye’s ‘Southern Gas Corridor’ project.”

The same report highlighted that “this would potentially place Israel’s gas exports at the mercy of Turkish decisions.”

“Normalization of diplomatic relations with Libya would be a significant victory for Israel, bringing it closer to the sensitive region, notably Algeria, aligning with Israel’s broader policy goals in the Arab region.”

Thus, the report confirms that “Israel’s interests in normalizing relations with Libya are clearly stated and encompass political, diplomatic, economic, and security aspects. This includes the exportation of gas and the prevention of arms smuggling.”