Gaddafi invites Libya’s former Jews to dialogue

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Jerusalem Post

06/09/2011

By Gil Shefler

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="311" caption="Gaddafi gives an adress on Libyan state TV"][/caption] In an apparent bid to improve its international image, the government of embattled dictator Muammar Gaddafi recently invited representatives of the Libyan Jewish Diaspora to visit the country and recognized them as “a component of Libyan society,” The Jerusalem Post has learned. Libyan authorities faxed a letter to Raphael Luzon, the chairman of Jews of Libya UK, on May 29 asking him and other Libyan Jewish leaders to take part in dialogue regarding the future of the country torn by a civil war between Gaddafi loyalists and rebels. “We are pleased to extend an invitation to you personally and through you to the number of personalities of Libyan Jews in Europe and North America working in various fields to visit Libya at the earliest possible opportunity and to join the tribes of which you are part of it, and you should be represented as part of the components of the Libyan society,” the letter signed by tribal leader and Gaddafi loyalist Ali Mohamed Salem al- Ahwal said. “We hope that you accept our invitation to join this institution and to be represented through all tribes and clans and dignitaries of the Libyan Jews in this conference, which has the full legitimacy in Libya.”
Before receiving the letter, Luzon spoke on the phone with Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Khaim, who said the invitation came directly from Gaddafi. On Wednesday, Luzon said he rejected Gaddafi’s offer after consulting with other members of the World Organization of Jews of Libya. “I represent a lot of people and I cannot bet on a losing horse,” Luzon said. “I am scared the people in Tripoli will present us to the international press and come out with a press release that we support them.” The invitation was extended to Jews of Libyan descent in Europe and North America, but not to those in Israel, where about 100,000 Jews of Libyan descent live. The invitation marks a significant change in the regime’s longtime policy toward the Libyan Jewish Diaspora. After Gaddafi came to power in 1969 all Jewish property was confiscated and most of the few Jews still living in the country left. During his rule, Libyan Jews were prohibited from visiting their country of birth with few exceptions and their rights were ignored. The ancient Jewish cemetery in Tripoli, for instance, was razed by authorities to make way for a highway. Its tombstones and human remains were dumped into the sea. In recent years, Gaddafi has flirted with the idea of compensating Jews of Libyan descent. Several times negotiations with Libyan Jews were initiated but none resulted in an agreement. Meanwhile, Luzon said he expects to receive a similar invitation from rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Gaddafi’s former justice minister, who is the head of the rebel government in eastern Libya. “I have a close relationship with the leaders of the revolution [in Benghazi],” he said. “Apparently, they are going to do the same thing.” View article hereJune 14, 2011
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In an apparent bid to improve its international image, the government of embattled dictator Muammar Gaddafi recently invited representatives of the Libyan Jewish Diaspora to visit the country and recognized them as “a component of Libyan society,” The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Libyan authorities faxed a letter to Raphael Luzon, the chairman of Jews of Libya UK, on May 29 asking him and other Libyan Jewish leaders to take part in dialogue regarding the future of the country torn by a civil war between Gaddafi loyalists and rebels.

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Rafel Haddad

Israeli held in Libyan prison freed in secret deal

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Haaretz - September 8th, 2010

Rafael Haddad was arrested on suspicion of spying while photographing buildings on behalf of society that seeks to preserve Libyan Jewish history.

By Barak Ravid Complex and secret negotiations between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Libyan authorities came to a dramatic conclusion Sunday when an Israeli who disappeared in March was freed from a Libyan prison. Rafael (Rafram) Haddad, who is active in a society that seeks to preserve Libyan Jewish history, arrived in Vienna late Sunday after five months in prison. Haddad, who holds dual Israeli and Tunisian passports, is due in Israel on Monday. The ordeal began in March, when Haddad arrived in Libya to photograph buildings that once belonged to the Jewish community. While photographing one of the buildings, he was arrested by the local police and subsequently handed over to the Libyan intelligence authorities, on suspicions that he was a spy. The entire affair has been subject to heavy censorship since March. According to a senior government official, at the time of his arrest Hadad managed to telephone relatives in Tunisia, where he had been living for several years after moving there from Israel. The relatives contacted the Israeli foreign ministry, which opened contacts with Libya via several secret channels. Israel approached several countries including the United States, France and Italy with a request to intercede with the Libyans, asking the intermediaries to stress that Hadad was not a spy but rather a civilian who had shown a lapse in judgment. Italy's intelligence agency played a central role in early attempts to free Hadad after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a personal approach to his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi. American Jewish groups are also thought to been involved in negotiations. But representations through official channels failed and two months ago, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to use private contacts close to the Libyan regime to push for a deal. Lieberman approached a number of central and eastern European acquaintances, including Austrian businessman Martin Schlaff, a friend of Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the Libyan leader. Schlaff returned with a Libyan offer of a deal and Israel eventually allowed the cargo of a Libyan aid ship into the Gaza Strip in exchange for Hadad's release.November 30, 2010
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Haaretz – September 8th, 2010 Rafael Haddad was arrested on suspicion of spying while photographing buildings on behalf of society that seeks to preserve Libyan Jewish history. By Barak Ravid Complex and secret negotiations between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Libyan authorities came to a dramatic conclusion Sunday when an Israeli who disappeared in […]

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(English) Libyan Jew Reopens Tripoli’s Lone Temple

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عفوا، هذه المدخلة موجودة فقط في English.

October 24, 2011
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عفوا، هذه المدخلة موجودة فقط في English.

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Libya's President Gaddafi and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi  Photo: AFP

Settling debts with Gaddafi

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Ynet News - December 19, 2010

As Italy agrees to revolutionary compensation package over its occupation of Libya during WWII, Jews of Libyan descent launch initiative to receive their part in compensation package – over $500 million. 'My aunt was sent to death camps. We're entitled to compensation,' says Itzhak Cohen From afar, the pile of documents on the desk of Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi may look like just another bureaucratic list that the ruler can doodle on as he continues with his daily agenda. But these documents hide a story that involves senior Libyan, Italian, American and Israeli government officials. A few weeks ago, an unusual secret meeting took place at the United Nations offices: On one side, a close associate of Gaddafi's, and on the other, an American Jewish lawyer. The agenda: Deliberations over an operation materializing as we speak – 400 million euros ($529,389,440) compensation being requested by Libya's 120,000 Jews, mostly Israeli residents, for years of suffering under Italian rule. Alan Gershon, the lawyer hired by the Libyan expats, held the position of legal advisor to the US mission to the UN, and has already succeeded in making the Libyan government pay huge sums in compensation to the families of those killed in the 1988 Pan Am flight terror attack over Lockerby in Scotland. Jews of Libyan descent decided to act after Berlusconi's government signed an agreement stating that it would pay Libya 5 billion euro ($6,617,368,000) – compensation for the Imperialist regime of 1911-1943. Gershon, who together with former Knesset Member and lawyer David Mena and a group of Italian lawyers is representing the Jews in the affair, is demanding the money from Italy and not Libya. Former Italian foreign minister and Jewish Italian parliament members from Berlusconi's party were enlisted for the mission. Their main claim is that Jews weren't just like everyone else among the conquered; rather they suffered from the Italian rule under Benito Mussolini more than the Muslims. They were sent to work camps, evicted from their homes, suffered under the 'Shabbat Laws' which forced them to work on Shabbat and some were even sent to concentration camps and murdered in the Holocaust. "We were among the conquered, we suffered more and so we want our share of the compensation," said Chairman of the International organization for Jews of Libyan Descent Meir Kahlon. "We will not ignore the fate of the dozens of Libyan Jews murdered during the Italian regime's rule. Joined by the team of lawyers, Kahlon formed an agreement that outlines the plan. "The operation will focus at first on the Libyan government, for an understanding that part of the compensation funds were meant for the Jews." The agreement stated. "This will mainly be done in the US, without any noticeable Israeli activity but through the activities of Gershon and his team with the Libyan representative in Washington and the Libyan mission at the UN. At the same time we will ask international forums with connections to Libya, Gaddafi and his son to join the operation." At the moment, the demands haven't been formed into legal action. "We will attempt to reach a settlement with the Libyan and Italian governments without involving the courts," said Kahlon. "The Italian ambassador has announced that they are willing to compensate Libya's Jews, but that the agreement must come from Libya." The issue has already been brought to Gaddafi's attention, and conversations held in Italy reveal that there is no fundamental problem with the solution of reaching a settlement with Jews in Israel, so long as he gives his consent. It is no surprise then that the former Jewish Libyan community is all a flutter at the potential Libya heading west The story is not a simple one – this is a community whose members weren't seen as Holocaust survivors for decades. It was only two months ago, nearly 60 years too late that the government offices finalized the addition of the 5,000 Jews of Libyan descent to those eligible for compensation according to the Nazi persecution disability law. The move cost an estimated NIS 110 million ($30,540, 446). The eligibility of Libyan Jews is based on their exposure to Nazi persecution during WWII and their fearful escape from their homes. "The Jews suffered much more than the Muslims under Italian rule," said Deputy Finance Minister Itzhak Cohen, who is of Libyan descent. "My aunt was sent to the death camps with her children. We're entitled to compensation." Kahlon and the other initiators are very much aware of the importance of the US in the move. They hired Gershon, who is experience in affairs like this, as their lawyer for a reason. The agreement states: "We appreciate that these days Libya needs US support and sympathy more than anything else, which is why the hub of our activities will be carried out by Gershon and his team, which has experience in dealing with the Libyan government, in the US. It seems that the Lockerby terror attack families' compensation agreement, which Gershon oversaw, brought on an about-face in Libya's image around the world. "Libya wants to open up to the west" said a foreign ministry official, "and wants to promote relations in the US, where the main pressure to allocate compensation funds to the Jews according to their relative part in the population exists. "Libya has given up its revolutionary image as the world's 'bad boy', has begun to develop relations with most of its sworn enemies, has given up weapons of mass destruction and has compensated the Lockerby attack families." Following the activities in US, the operation will focus on the Italian government. Israel will also be included in this phase of the initiative, and members of the team have already me with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. In addition they are planning on requesting aid from the Israeli embassy in Rome, the Italian embassy in Israel a parliamentary organization and the 'Friends of Israel, Italy' organization. Expectations in Israel are high. If received, the compensation isn't intended as personal compensation to the families. It will be used for infrastructure projects in Israel, "like the train to Eilat," says Cohen. The agreement would have the same terms as the one with Libya, where the funds from Italy would be invested in developing infrastructure in Libya over a 20 year period, through Italian companies. Today, there are 16 Israeli towns that have large populations of Jews of Libyan descent; these include Porat, Dalton and Alma. Some are already dreaming of what they will do with the funds. "These towns need extensions, refurbishment, community centers and institutions and more," said Kahlo. Never forget Libyan Jews who lived through that difficult period find it hard to forget the history that led them to their quest for compensation. On the eve of WWII the Libyan Jewish community numbered 30,000. More than half resided in Tripoli, and a few thousand in Bengasi. In 1935 the Shabbat Edict was put into force and Jewish merchants were all forced to keep their businesses open on the Sabbath. As Italy grew closer to Nazi Germany, racial and anti-Jewish laws were legislated in Italy. After Italy joined the axis in WWII, orders called for Jews to be locked up at the Jado concentration camp 150 kilometers from Tripoli, though this was only done partially. The situation of Libya's Jews underwent a turn for the worse in June 1940 when the Fascist 'Black Shirts' group blamed them for hording food and spying for the British. After the British occupied Bengasi, the incitation against the Jews got worse. Many Jews were arrested and punished. The end of WWII didn't bring about the end to their troubles. In 1945, right around the date of the one year anniversary of the Balfour declaration, riots against Libya's Jewish community left hundreds dead; many injured, and plundered synagogues in shambles. Additional bloody clashes occurred in June 1948 as the Arab nations prepared to attack Israel. Between 1948 and 1952 nearly the entire Libyan Jewish community made Aliyah to Israel, other than a few that made their way to Italy. Kahlon believes that an agreement to compensate the Jews will serve to improve Libya's standing in the world. And yet, they won't settle for anything less than what they are demanding. "We won't be bought cheaply" he added. "It was hinted that they were willing to build us a luxurious nursing home, but that isn't a solution. We were seven percent of the population, and the compensation we receive should be allocated accordingly. "We are interested in completing projects that would be for the State's benefit, and then we will settle our accounts with the Israeli government over funds for the benefit of the entire Jewish-Libyan community."December 22, 2009
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Ynet News – December 19, 2010 As Italy agrees to revolutionary compensation package over its occupation of Libya during WWII, Jews of Libyan descent launch initiative to receive their part in compensation package – over $500 million. ‘My aunt was sent to death camps. We’re entitled to compensation,’ says Itzhak Cohen From afar, the pile […]

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(English) Bay Area Jews from Egypt, Libya and Tunisia worry about their former Arab homelands

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عفوا، هذه المدخلة موجودة فقط في English.

October 24, 2011
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عفوا، هذه المدخلة موجودة فقط في English.

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Haddad Story

Haddad story highlights efforts to recover Libyan assets

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Jerusalem Post - August 13th, 2010

Or Shalom head Pedazur Benattia: Many people came to me and said, ‘We didn’t know you [Libyan Jews] had such a history, it’s a very moving story.’

By GIL SHEFLER Pedazur Benattia is a man in much demand these days. Since his organization Or Shalom made front-page news earlier this week, he has been busy giving interviews to media outlets, explaining how the group he founded 15 years ago with the aim of strengthening the Libyan Jewish Diaspora in Israel became involved in a diplomatic imbroglio over the incarceration of an Israeli- Tunisian photographer in Libya. “Hold on, Army Radio is on the phone,” Benattia politely interrupted an interview conducted at his offices – located in the basement of a dilapidated residential building in Bat Yam – on Thursday. After a five-minute break, the soft-spoken father of five returned to his desk, picking up the conversation from where he left off. “There are assets worth billions of dollars belonging to Jews in Libya,” he said. “[Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi nationalized all of them and burnt the archives, which is a good way of getting rid of the ownership – no one can prove anything. Some Libyan Jews, particularly those who fled to Italy, are trying to get some of it back, just like Italy recently gave [$4.5 billion] to Libya as compensation for colonization. But if you ask me, I’d rather they not pay. If the Libyans gave money, then the Jews would start fighting over who gets what. I’d rather that not happen. Better they not give anything.” The affair has put a spotlight on Or Shalom and the Libyan Jewish Diaspora. Jews have lived in Libya for thousands of years. During the 1930s, there were some 21,000 Jews spread throughout the country, but persecution by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, followed by a series of homegrown pogroms, resulted in mass emigration abroad, mostly to Israel. In 1967, the remainder of Libya’s Jews were forcibly driven out of the country. Benattia reckons there are about 100,000 Libyan Jews and their descendants living in Israel, and many thousands more abroad, mainly in Italy, Libya’s former colonial master. As a second-generation Israeli, born in Bat Yam to parents who came from Khoms in Western Libya, it was important to him to get in touch with his roots – which is why he founded Or Shalom. “We work on all the different levels,” he said. “We hold gatherings, lectures, and digitize documents and articles. We produce a newspaper once every two months, which we distribute to the community’s synagogues and [that] has a reach of about 20,000. Gathering information on the state of the community’s material assets in Libya is just another aspect of what we do.” Last March, Israeli-Tunisian photographer Rafael Haddad was jailed by Libya after taking photos of the crumbling synagogues and cemeteries on behalf of Or Shalom. He was released after five months following an agreement between Tripoli and Jerusalem mediated by Austrian Jewish businessman Martin Schlaff. Haddad was one of five people who have gathered information for Or Shalom in Libya over the past decade and a half. Two of the other four emissaries were also jailed, Benattia said. One of them, a Belgian-born Jew who entered the country in 2002 as a tourist, was kept in jail for a week, and most of his photographs were confiscated. “They released him from jail the night before his flight departed, and he went straight back to the Jewish neighborhood in Tripoli and started taking pictures again,” Benattia recalled. “Then, when he arrived at the airport, the authorities were waiting for him and confiscated his pictures a second time. Still, he managed to smuggle some films out.” But not all Jews who visit Libya are thrown in jail. Raphael Luzon, whose family was forced to leave in 1967 and lost all of their assets, just returned last week from a visit to his country of birth, where he and his 87-year-old mother were official guests of the authorities. “It was the first time a Jew from Libya officially returned, and I was personally invited by Gaddafi,” Luzon said. “For the past 35 years I’ve been involved in the Libyan Diaspora, and I’ve been engaged in dialogue with the government for the past 10 years.” During his stay, Luzon visited the former grand synagogue of his native city of Benghazi, which is now a Coptic church, and visited his father’s former properties, which have been taken over by locals. “Authorities there say, we haven’t got a problem with Jews, only with Zionists,” he said. “But they only give visas to people they want to come visit.” He said the highlight of his trip came when he took a dip in the Mediterranean Sea on the beaches of Benghazi, fulfilling a dream of his for the past 40 years. Back in his office in Bat Yam, Benattia said he was glad the affair had managed to raise the profile of the Libyan Diaspora in Israel, which he said was often confused with Tunisian or Moroccan Jewry. “After the story broke, many people came to me and said, ‘We didn’t know you had such a history, it’s a very moving story,’” he said. “Our motto has always been to raise awareness to what was a 2,500-year-old community.December 1, 2010
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Jerusalem Post – August 13th, 2010 Or Shalom head Pedazur Benattia: Many people came to me and said, ‘We didn’t know you [Libyan Jews] had such a history, it’s a very moving story.’ By GIL SHEFLER Pedazur Benattia is a man in much demand these days. Since his organization Or Shalom made front-page news earlier […]

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(English) Israel’s Libyan Jews shed no tears for Kadhafi

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عفوا، هذه المدخلة موجودة فقط في English.

October 24, 2011
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عفوا، هذه المدخلة موجودة فقط في English.

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A dream realised

A dream realised

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Radio Netherlands Worldwide - August 8th, 2010


For more than 40 years, Raphael Luzon dreamed of returning to his birthplace in Libya. But the obstacles in his way were huge and it took years of patient lobbying before that dream was finally realised. Together with his sister and 86-year-old mother, Mr Luzon returned to the village of Benghazi recently for a reunion with loved ones that was, he told us, a mixture of tears and laughter.

By Louise Dunne Raphael Luzon is a Libyan Jew and he was 13 when he was driven out of the country in the aftermath of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Forced to leave everything behind, he and his family found asylum in Italy and now live in Britain where Mr Luzon is chairman of the Jewish Libyan Community in the UK.
Riots Libya's Jewish population, originally numbering tens of thousands, shrank in the face of growing anti-Semitism after the founding of Israel in 1948. Most of the estimated 7,000 remaining Jews were evacuated after violent riots in 1967. Mr Luzon's uncle and aunt and their six children were shot by an army officer in the rioting, but despite the violence Mr Luzon and the community he represents are still, he says, Libyans who cherish the land of their birth.
"Everyone is really in love with Libya. Also myself, I have no sentiment of revenge or spirit of hatred. Absolutely not. What happened, it happened. It happens everywhere in the world. Jews have been killed, Arabs have been killed, Palestinians have been killed. Unfortunately war does not recognise any difference between religions, between races, between nothing."
Exile Libya's Jews in exile were banned from visiting their country and it took years of work and lobbying on Mr Luzon's part before he was given permission to make last month's visit. And when permission did come, it came with a speed that left him stunned.
"Ten years ago I started a sort of dialogue with the Libyan government and they appreciate very much that despite what happened to me and my family, I never spoke badly about Libya. And then last week I received a sudden phone call... from the Libyan consul here. And in two hours I get home with a sort of realisation of a dream. Because I came back with my passport with all the visas and two days after I was on the flight to Libya."
Homeland Mr Luzon's mother was determined to see her homeland again "before leaving this world", he says, and joined him on the journey back to the village of Benghazi, some 1,000 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli.
"It was very, very emotional, for her, for every one of us. We had a very, very emotional meeting with another family who were very close to us. We didn't see each other for the last 40 years. So you can imagine, last time I saw these friends they were my age, 13 or 14-years-old and now everyone of them is over 50. So it was very emotional, very nice. Everyone cried and laughed at the same time."
Dream Mr Luzon also met with several government officials during his visit and hopes now to help realise the same dream for other Libyan Jews. He's optimistic that within a month he'll be able to accompany small groups of Jewish exiles on a visit back to their Libyan homeland. And his dreams don't stop there. He's an idealist who believes in the possibility of reconciliation between Muslims and Jews. For 1,400 years, he says, the communities were at peace and with dialogue and goodwill that could be possible again.
"I hope to renew, me and other people like me, what was the Golden Era. For 1,400 years Jews and Muslims lived very nicely together and I hope that we will renew this and that people thinking like me will overcome the other people that like war."
December 1, 2010
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Radio Netherlands Worldwide – August 8th, 2010 For more than 40 years, Raphael Luzon dreamed of returning to his birthplace in Libya. But the obstacles in his way were huge and it took years of patient lobbying before that dream was finally realised. Together with his sister and 86-year-old mother, Mr Luzon returned to the […]

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Homecoming for Libyan Jews after 33 years

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Jewish Chronicle - September 2nd, 2010

By Jennifer Lipman Two Italian Jews are to return to their homes in Libya for the first time in more than 30 years. The women, both of whom were born in Libya, emigrated with their families to Italy in 1967 as Jewish–Arab relations deteriorated in the wake of the Six Day War. Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, known for his attacks on Israel, has reportedly agreed to let some Jewish people visit the country. In August the first Jew from Libya officially returned home. Raphael Luzon and his 87-year-old mother travelled to their former home of Benghazi as government guests. Libya’s centuries-old Jewish community once numbered 20,000, but the population declined after Israel gained independence and it is believed the last Jewish person left in 2003. When Colonel Gaddafi seized power in 1969, debts to Jews were cancelled Jewish property was confiscated. Between the 1940s and 1970s an estimated 800,000 Jews fled their homes in Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa because of persecution. In August an Israeli-Tunisian photographer imprisoned in Libya for five months was released and flown to safety. We survived, but we were penniless: A Libyan Jewish refugee shares her storyDecember 1, 2010
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Jewish Chronicle – September 2nd, 2010 By Jennifer Lipman Two Italian Jews are to return to their homes in Libya for the first time in more than 30 years. The women, both of whom were born in Libya, emigrated with their families to Italy in 1967 as Jewish–Arab relations deteriorated in the wake of the […]

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