Libya mulls oil embargo against supporters of Israel’s war on Gaza

The geopolitical ramifications of the Israeli Defence Forces’ (IDF) war on the Gaza strip following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel are also to be found in Libya and could impact the country’s foreign relations as well as its internal conflict dynamics.

On October 25, the House of Representatives (HoR) called for an oil embargo against Western countries supporting the IDF’s recent actions and the departure from Libya of the American, British, French, and Italian ambassadors. Such calls were reiterated by members of the High Council of State (HCS), who even asked for the formation of a joint Arab-Islamic military force to protect civilians in Gaza.

Libya finds itself in a minority of Muslim majority countries ready to use oil as a political weapon to put an end to Israel’s military escalations in the Gaza strip. During the emergency meeting of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah on October 18, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called upon his Muslim counterparts to expel Israeli diplomats and apply sanctions, including an oil embargo, against Tel Aviv.

Sources within the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which produces a third of global oil output and includes several Muslim majority countries like Iran and Libya, quickly told media outlets that such a course of action was unfeasible as the organisation does not see itself as political. The Secretary of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes oil producing heavyweights such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, also rejected the idea of using oil exports as a political weapon. Therefore, there is little chance of a repeat of the 1973 oil embargo imposed on Western supporters of Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war initiated by Egypt.