Saudi and Libyan media reported Jan. 12 that Mossad Director David Barnea and Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh had met recently in Jordan to discuss normalization and security cooperation. According to these reports, Dbeibeh asked Israel to assist him to stay in office during the pre-election transition period in Libya. The office of the Libyan prime minister denied the meeting took place, while official Israel did not comment on the issue.

These reports come after prior reports over alleged contacts between Libyan leaders and Israeli officials, though not necessarily from the same political camp as Dbeibeh.

Last November, Israeli media reported that Libyan politician Saddam Hifter flew to Ben Gurion Airport for meetings with Israeli officials regarding potential normalization between the two countries. Apparently, he was aboard a private Falcon jet that stopped briefly in Israel on its way from Dubai to Libya. The reports did not say with whom Hifter met in Israel, but it did suggest Hifter offered to establish diplomatic relations between Israel and Libya in return for Jerusalem’s military and diplomatic support of himself or of his father. Saddam Hifter is the son of Libyan warlord Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the main political rival of Dbeibeh. The reports also claimed Saddam Hifter had been in contact in the past with Mossad agents.

Last November, an unnamed official in Hifter's campaign headquarters told Israel Hayom, "It's still too early to discuss a normalization agreement with Israel and how that would look. First of all, Gen. Haftar has to actually win [the elections], and we are certain he will. As of now, though, we have no interest in bringing the issue of future relations with Israel to the agenda, because the Libyan public harbors traditional and structured hostility toward it."