Mikati denies 'any communication' with Israelis at Egypt climate meeting

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday denied “any communication with any Israeli official,” after the website of Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a photo showing him and Israel's environmental protection minister along with several world leaders and officials at the U.N.’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

“A report is circulating in the media about the participation of an Israeli minister in a specialized workshop at the climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in the presence of (caretaker) PM Najib Mikati and the delegations of Iraq and Palestine,” Mikati’s office said in a statement.

“For clarification, the broad meeting was held at an invitation from the presidents of Egypt and Cyprus and in their presence, and with broad international and Arab participation, similarly to the rest of the climate conference meetings, and it did not at all involve any communication with any Israeli official,” the statement added.

“The objectives of the noise that the Israeli media fabricates at such conferences have become known,” Mikati’s office said.

Haaretz had earlier boasted that “several countries that don't have official relations with Israel are participating in the meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, including Lebanon, Iraq and Oman.”

“Israel's Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg took part in a closed-door meeting at the United Nation's (sic) climate conference on Tuesday with representatives of several countries that do not recognize Israel, including Lebanon and Iraq,” Haaretz reported on its English-language website.

Haaretz claimed that Zandberg “met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades as well as officials from Iraq, Oman and Jordan.”

“The meeting between an official in the Israeli government and officials from Lebanon and Palestine is considered extremely rare. The meeting was arranged by Cypriot and Egyptian officials. According to sources, this is the first high-level regional meeting on climate change that Israel is taking part in,” Haaretz added.

“Zandberg spoke during the meeting, though the Lebanese and Palestinian did not join the applause following her speech,” the Israeli newspaper noted.

Zandberg’s office also said that the minister attended the meeting alongside Iraqi and Lebanese leaders, where the conferees pledged to work together to tackle climate change.

Israel is still officially at war with Lebanon and Israel and Iraq have no diplomatic relations and a history of hostilities.

While Lebanon and Israel recently signed a landmark, U.S.-brokered maritime agreement, any hint that the two sides are open to cooperate even as part of a regional setting would be controversial. Lebanon bans its citizens from having any contact with Israelis and the sea deal was negotiated through American shuttle diplomacy, with no Israeli or Lebanese officials ever publicly meeting.

The agreement by the member countries said the parties would work to "strengthen regional cooperation" and "act in a coordinated way" on climate change.

"The countries of the region share the warming and drying climate and just as they share the problems they can and must share the solutions. No country can stand alone in the face of the climate crisis," Zandberg said in a statement.

In photos provided by her office, she is seen seated behind a small Israeli flag. Two seats away from her is Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid and across the room is Mikati, each behind their countries' flags.