JERUSALEM, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday appeared to shift blame to his top diplomat for the disclosure of a secret meeting with the Libyan foreign minister that has caused a backlash in Tripoli. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen's office on Aug. 26 went public with his having met Najla Mangoush, his Libyan counterpart, in Italy earlier in the month. The statement came on the heels of an Israeli media report about the meeting. The news triggered protests in Libya, which does not recognise Israel and where pro-Palestinian sentiment is strong, and led Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah to fire Mangoush. In the ANT1 interview, Netanyahu called the handling of the Cohen-Magoush meeting "an exception to the rule".

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Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Eli Cohen's, Najla Mangoush, Abdulhamid, Netanyahu, I've, Cohen, Dan Williams, Michele Kambas, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Libyan, Cypriot TV, Thomson Locations: Tripoli, Israeli, Italy, Libya, Israel, United States