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 No Comments

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 No Comments

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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Libyan Jew Reopens Tripoli’s Lone Temple

Posted on Wall Street Journal October 3, 2011 By Charles Levinson TRIPOLI—Wearing prayer tassels, a yarmulke and Star of David pendant, the man who says he is the first Libyan Jew to return to the country since Moammar Gadhafi's ouster on Sunday reopened the city's lone synagogue for the first time in 44 years. Reopening the Dar Bishi Synagogue stands as a bold challenge to the country's new leaders to prove their commitment to the pluralistic democratic values they espouse, said David Gerbi, who fled to Rome in 1967 at the age of 12. "You now have a test for the NTC, to see if they will discriminate or if the new Libya will be a real democracy," said Mr. Gerbi, referring to the National Transitional Council, the interim governing body in charge of post-Gadhafi Libya. "My intention is to restore it and make it a normal functioning synagogue." That leadership includes a fragile alliance of more secular leaning, Western-educated liberals and Islamists, whose repeated pledges to uphold democratic values have gone largely untested so far. How Libya's new leadership deals with its exiled Jewish minority is likely to help shape U.S. and European opinion of the new Libyan government. Their continued support will be crucial as Libya struggles to rebuild. On Sunday, fighters loyal to the NTC continued to press their siege of one of the last pro-Gadhafi enclaves in the country, his hometown of Sirte, as hundreds of residents fled the city, the Associated Press reported. Two children and their parents were gunned down as they tried to flee, but it was unclear who killed them, the AP reported. Meanwhile, the top U.S. commander for Africa, Army Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, told the AP that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's mission in Libya was nearly complete and could begin to wind down as soon as this coming week and that the decision would depend on the outcome of a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization ministers this week in Brussels. Libya's new leaders have taken historic steps to empower other long-persecuted minorities, including the country's Berbers. But the return of Libyan Jews is certain to prove a far-more-sensitive issue. All but a handful of Libya's some 40,000 Jews fled the country between the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967. Mr. Gerbi said those Jews and their descendants now number around 200,000. Many of the Jews who fled, including Mr. Gerbi's family, left behind substantial property holdings. Any attempts to reclaim those properties, as Mr. Gerbi said he would like to do, would likely worsen a relationship already marred by decades of mistrust and simmering hatred. In Libya, as in much of the Arab world, animosity toward Israel has often translated into vehement anti-Semitism. One of the more common swipes at Col. Gadhafi in recent months by Libyans was the widely believed allegation that he had Jewish grandparents. Further complicating the question of how to handle Libya's Jewish diaspora, most of the Jews emigrated to Israel and are now Israeli citizens. Even most Libyans who fully support the repatriation of Libyan Jews say that shouldn't include those who went to Israel. The country's new leadership has tread carefully around the issue. NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil met with Mr. Gerbi in Benghazi late last month. Libya's Berber minority have emerged as vocal advocates of Libyan Jews, with some prominent Berber leaders backing Mr. Gerbi's bid to secure a seat on the country's governing council. Still, Mr. Gerbi said his request for formal permission to reopen the synagogue was totally ignored. NTC officials responded coolly to the news of the synagogue's reopening, calling it premature to tackle such a sensitive issue. It was unclear whether they would allow Mr. Gerbi to go forward with his plans to renovate and restore the synagogue or would move to stop it. "It should be no problem, but this isn't the time for it," said NTC spokesman Jalal el-Gallal. "This is an issue that needs to be addressed, but only when there is a stable and legitimate elected government in place." Mr. Gallal said he feared an attack by even a single lone extremist against Mr. Gerbi could derail the new leadership's efforts to establish a stable and functioning government and be used by critics to discredit the new government in U.S. and European capitals. Lacking formal government sanction, Mr. Gerbi said he instead secured the support of residents surrounding the synagogue. He won the backing of the local militia that helped secure the neighborhood in the wake of Col. Gadhafi's fall and from a pair of clerics who serve as imams at the local mosque. Throughout the day, neighbors trickled into the synagogue, stepping gingerly through the cinderblock rubble, charred mattress springs, and rotting pigeon corpses that covered the floors of the sanctuary, tucked deep inside Tripoli's decaying and labyrinthine old city. Local residents, some with their children in tow, marveled at a site that had been sealed off for decades. Several offered to pitch in and help clear out the rubble. Others voiced alarm. Still, the vibrant debate in the heart of Tripoli between Libyan Muslims and a lone Libyan Jew proudly sporting Jewish garb was a spectacle that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago in Libya, and remains an exceedingly rare sight throughout the Arab world. "I've watched the Jews attack the Palestinians. What if they turn against us? The Jews are no good," said 39-year-old Ali Jamal, another neighbor. Mr. Jamal's neighbor, Abdel Majid, 43, challenged his friend and neighbor. "This is freedom," he said. "I shook [Mr. Gerbi's] hand. I hugged him. He's Libyan, it's his right to return to his country and practice his religion." When Sheik Jamal Abdullah, one of two local Muslim clerics who signed off on the temple's reopening, arrived, Mr. Gerbi ushered him into the sanctuary, to the ark that once held the congregation's Torah scrolls. Mr. Gerbi pointed to the faint remains of a Hebrew inscription pledging fealty to God above the ark. "Here is the name of God, your God, my God," he said. "Is it right that the name of God will reside among all this garbage?" The elderly imam in a white robe and skull cap clutched Mr. Gerbi's hands. "We must clean this up," he said. "Only when Jews and Muslims again live together, will there be no more war, no more fighting." Read article hereOctober 24, 2011 No Comments

Wall Street Journal October 3, 2011 By Charles Levinson TRIPOLI—Wearing prayer tassels, a yarmulke and Star of David pendant, the man who says he is the first Libyan Jew to return to the country since Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster on Sunday reopened the city’s lone synagogue for the first time in 44 years. Reopening the Dar […]

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

Settling debts with Gaddafi

Posted on [caption id="attachment_253" align="alignleft" width="116" caption="Libya's President Gaddafi and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi Photo: AFP"][/caption]

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 No Comments

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

Posted on J Weekly of Northern California September 15, 2011 By Dan Pine As Tahrir Square filled with hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, all demanding liberty, equality and fraternity, the world looked on in amazement. The so-called Arab Spring, which began last December, had by February fully blossomed in Cairo. Also watching intensely from his Palo Alto home was Albert Bivas. The retired physicist knew Tahrir Square well. As a boy, he attended a school not far from it. Bivas, 70, is an Egyptian Jew, raised in cultured elegance at a time when Cairo was a cosmopolitan world city. He spoke French as his first language and lived in Zamalek, a wealthy neighborhood located on an island in the Nile. But Bivas’ idyllic upper-class life came to a halt in 1956 when he and his family, like many other Egyptian Jews, fled after the rise of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, a fierce Egyptian nationalist and staunch enemy of Israel. The Bivas family moved to France to start a new life. Decades later, Albert Bivas watched his former countrymen peacefully overthrow the oppressive regime of President Hosni Mubarak. He couldn’t help but feel joy. “I was supporting the people,” Bivas said in his distinctively French accent. “I hoped that the people wake up, take their lives in their hands and get rid of those who did not allow them to grow, to earn money, to have decent lives.” He also frets over the outcome. Will the Egyptian people establish a democratic state, or would radicals take advantage of the disorder? And what will be the new Egyptian policy toward Israel and the Jews? These questions plague not only pundits and international policymakers, but also Jews from Muslim countries witnessing the foment of the Arab Spring. Bay Area Jews born in those lands watch, wait and worry about their home countries. With the chaos and near-tragedy of the Egyptian mob attacking the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 9, and the subsequent reestablishment of martial law, those concerns grew more intense. “[Egyptians] don’t have the know-how,” Bivas said. “I’m afraid the only groups organized enough are Islamist groups, groups we would call terrorists, with no respect for life. In the name of ideology, they may hijack the wonder of becoming free. People will have fought to become free and end up giving their freedom away.” Bill Moran, a Livermore physicist, was glued to the television following the news from Egypt earlier this year. Born Nabil Mourad, he was raised in Halwan, a Cairo suburb so bereft of Jews, Moran’s parents didn’t tell their son he was Jewish until he had reached his teens. Before they did, he said, “I learned to hate Jews and how bad the Jews are. Eventually I found out. It was a big shock. My parents did this to protect me and not be ostracized.” Life for Jews in Egypt grew far more precarious after the 1967 Six-Day War, during which the Egyptian military suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Israel. Two years later, at age 17, Moran left his country, exiled at the urging of his own parents, who stayed behind. He joined a sister, who had previously immigrated to San Francisco. Moran also received help from Jewish Family and Children’s Services. Eventually he graduated from U.C. Berkeley and became a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore Labs. He built a new life in California, though traces of the old fear remained. “I was afraid of saying I was Jewish for a long time, even though there was no anti-Semitism here,” Moran remembered. “I was just so cautious. Eventually I learned to trust people.” Moran made a return visit to Egypt nine years ago. He saw for himself the corruption and social decay under Mubarak. That’s why he rejoiced at the sight of mass demonstrations — at least at first. “One begins to wonder, will the Muslim Brotherhood take over,” he asked. “Will [Egypt] become a fanatic state? What about peace with Israel? I have no crystal ball, but my gut feeling is Egyptians in general are a bit more civilized than Iraqis, Syrians and Libyans. There are a lot of really good Egyptians. Most are just misinformed about the Jews, and they don’t know any Jews.” Though he doesn’t expect war to break out between Egypt and Israel, as it had four times since the founding of the Jewish state, he is not surprised that Egypt’s border with Israel and Gaza has already become a flashpoint. “It’s hard to know if they will have a real democracy with moderate leaders,” he added. “The majority of the population is not as fanatic as those [Islamist] groups. But instability can happen. I hope people will recognize the benefits of peace.” The sustained, relative non-violence of this spring’s Egyptian revolution, despite the government’s brutal response, inspired the world. That Egyptian revolt came after a peaceful revolt in Tunisia. Marilyn Uzan of Palo Alto followed news reports during the Arab Spring. She focused on her homeland of Tunisia, the North African country where the revolutions began last December. Like the uprisings in Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Libya, the Tunisian revolt brought great masses of people into the streets, clamoring for an end to the corrupt rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Uzan, 43, watched as her former countrymen endured a harsh police response yet never lost their poise. By mid-January, Ben Ali and his family had fled to Saudi Arabia. The Tunisian people claimed victory. “I was extremely proud to see that the people did their own fight,” Uzan said. “It was from their heart. They realized things were unfair. It was a beautiful movement, with very little violence.” That peaceful approach meshed with Uzan’s sense of her country. She remembers Tunisia, and her hometown of Tunis, as relatively tolerant and progressive, especially for an Arab country. Her family had lived there for generations, and though Jews did suffer second-class status, Uzan spent her first 17 years in Tunisia free from fear. Her favorite memory: playing on the Mediterranean beaches just north of the city. “I am very happy about my upbringing there,” she said. “It was a very easy life. It sounds surprising, because so many talk about being mistreated in Arab countries. I experienced almost no racism personally. Everyone knew we were Jews. We did not hide it, we did not feel unsafe or insecure.” A native French speaker, Uzan left Tunisia for France in 1985 before graduating high school. This was around the time Israel attacked PLO headquarters in Tunis. This led to a time of further uncertainty for Tunisian Jews, a community already in decline. Uzan lived in France and, briefly, in England, for the next 15 years until, as she put it, “I was imported by my husband,” a Jewish American who brought his new bride to California. Just as Bivas worries whether Egyptians will navigate the tricky political waters toward democracy, Uzan also wonders whether Tunisia can successful manage the same voyage. At first, she said, “I thought, ‘My God, that tiny country did so much for the Arab world.’ Then I was very scared and worried. Are they going to make it? It’s not easy to become a democracy. They will need to know how to be independent, have [political] parties, create a new constitution: It’s not something you do overnight.” Tunisia might have a head start. As a child, Uzan grew up under the rule of the late Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba, a leader sometimes compared to Mustafa Ataturk of Turkey. When he came to power in the mid-1950s, he ushered in reforms such as women’s emancipation, public education and healthcare. He also protected Tunisia’s Jewish community from the worst abuses seen in other Arab countries. His successor, Ben Ali, evolved into a corrupt leader, condemned by leading human rights organizations for his authoritarian rule. Ben Ali’s time ran out once the Tunisian people began mass protests last year. He found safety in exile. Not as lucky, Egypt’s Mubarak, now under house arrest and on trial. The Egyptian and Tunisian revolts surprised the world with their minimal bloodshed. That’s not how things went down in neighboring Libya, which for months has been convulsed in a bloody civil war between supporters and opponents of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi. For Bay Area Jews of Libyan extraction, such as Dalia Sirkin, the battle there has been anything but inspiring. “It pains me to see that, in order to have democracy and freedom, bloodshed is the cost,” said Sirkin, 61, a professor of English Composition at San Jose State University. “I really wish them well. I want any country to have the freedom to vote, to travel abroad, to own property. I hope [Libyans] have the freedoms that they denied us.” By “us,” she means the Libyan Jews, who lived as an oppressed community for centuries and ultimately fled under fire in the wake of the Six-Day War. Born Dalia Bokhobza in Tripoli, Sirkin grew up speaking Italian as her first language, though she also knew some Arabic and Hebrew. She remembers her home country as a beautiful place. To look at. “We had the sea and the sand,” she said. “The Italian architecture, the sun, the gardens, the date palms. My memories are rich with beauty.” Then there was the dark side of life, Sirkin says. “I don’t remember ever living without fear. There was no such thing as walking down the street and not worrying about being physically harassed.” Unlike the comparatively mild Tunisia, Libya was a hotbed of anti-Jewish hatred. Sirkin lost a childhood friend to anti-Jewish violence. Murders occurred often and went unpunished. “I don’t remember a single holiday where the Jews going to the synagogues were not harassed,” she went on. “[Muslims} would throw stones. Many synagogues were burned.” Sirkin’s parents had their assets confiscated. By the time a then-17-year-old Sirkin, her parents and grandparents fled Libya in 1967 — with only one suitcase permitted per person — they knew their centuries-old presence in that country had come to an end. Her parents and grandparents had a difficult time adjusting to a new life in exile in Rome. But Sirkin thrived. She lived in Rome for 11 years, and spent time studying English literature at Oxford University. She also lived in Israel for a few years, meeting her husband-to-be there. The couple moved to San Francisco in 1981. They had three daughters, and later divorced. Watching the Libyan civil war unfold over the last few months, Sirkin was not surprised her home country went down a more violent path than Egypt or Tunisia. “We also were dealing with a dictator who was not willing to let go,” she said of Gadhafi. “Mubarak to some extent was trying to reach out with a little bit of dialogue. Gadhafi was determined to hold on to his power at all costs.” Despite the international hope engendered by the Arab revolts, Sirkin counts herself among the pessimists, at least as far as Libya is concerned. “I don’t know what has changed for the people,” she said. “I don’t think they are more benevolent towards Jews today than they were in 1967, because nothing changed in terms of who they are. We were not malevolent then and they still kicked us out.” Bivas and Moran belong to JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa), a Bay Area organization that works on behalf of the nearly 1 million Jews exiled from Arab lands. The two are part of the JIMENA speakers’ bureau, sharing their stories. With the tumultuous changes sweeping the Middle East, local Jews born in Arab lands realize the story isn’t over. “The best we in the United States could do is let things happen,” Bivas said. “Let their ideas flourish, let them take responsibility for themselves.” Speaking of her native Tunisia, Uzan could be speaking of any Arab country undergoing transition. “We need to wait and see,” she said. “The Islamist movements have been somewhat contained in the past. From what I heard the Jews in Tunis are feeling a little insecure right now, and that’s sad.” Read article here October 24, 2011 No Comments

J Weekly of Northern California September 15, 2011 By Dan Pine As Tahrir Square filled with hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, all demanding liberty, equality and fraternity, the world looked on in amazement. The so-called Arab Spring, which began last December, had by February fully blossomed in Cairo. Also watching intensely from his Palo Alto […]

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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 No Comments

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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Israel’s Libyan Jews shed no tears for Kadhafi

Posted on mysinchew.com 9-15-2011 by Charly Wegman OR YEHUDA, September 15, 2011 (AFP) - Members of Libya's Jewish community, who emigrated en masse to Israel, are happy to reminisce and cling to their cultural heritage but they have no nostalgia for fallen leader Moamer Kadhafi. In Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, a group of around 20 elderly punters, who all emigrated from Libya, are sitting around tables in the local Sports Cafe for their weekly get-together. "It's the parliament of the Libya Jews," chuckles cafe owner Sergio Duyeb. This community, which now numbers around 180,000 people, immigrated to the Jewish state in three stages: after the 1945 pogrom in Tripoli, in the wake of the unrest which accompanied Israel's creation in 1948, and following the Arab defeat during the 1967 Six-Day War. While well integrated into Israeli society, many of them chat in Italian, a throwback to Libya's colonial past when the North African country was ruled by Italy between 1911 and 1943. Sitting around the tables, the group suddenly breaks into song, then bursts out laughing as they belt out martial choruses from the Mussolini era. "We will never forgive the Italian fascists for collaborating with the Third Reich," says Meir Sayegh, a 69-year-old survivor of the Giado concentration camp, some 150 miles (250 kilometres) south of Tripoli, where more than 500 Libyan Jews died from abuse and a typhoid epidemic in 1942. "Nor will we forget the massacres of Jews carried out by the Muslims in Libya, let alone Kadhafi's abuses. He committed the worst of crimes by razing the graveyards where our grandparents were buried in order to build there," says Nashte Gilboa, the bitterness evident in his voice. Gilboa, who owns a commercial vineyard in southern Israel, has fond memories of the era of King Idris I in the period after Libya gained its independence in 1951 and before Kadhafi's coup in 1969. "Libya was a model of coexistence and tolerance," he says. He doesn't feel "even the slightest bit of nostalgia" watching the momentous events unfold in his former homeland over the past six months. 'Fully support the rebels' "I fully support the rebels, and I hope that one day we will see a free and democratic Libya," he told AFP, saying he would love to return to visit one day. "I would like to be able to go back and find the place where my ancestors lived." The Jewish community in Libya dates back to the third century BC and at its peak numbered around 38,000 people, although it was always the smallest of the Jewish populations in north Africa. Most of the Jewish population left in the 20 years following World War II, although several hundred were still living there during Kadhafi's coup of 1969. "When Kadhafi took power, one of his first acts was to chase the last 600 Jews out of the country and confiscate their property," explains Meir Kahalon, the 73-year-old president of the World Organisation of Libyan Jews, which is based in Or Yehuda near Tel Aviv. A passionate defender of the group's cultural identity, Kahalon publishes a glossy quarterly in Hebrew and Italian for the Libyan Jewish community, called "LivLuv". He also runs an impressive museum which houses an archive and a research centre dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of Libya's Jewish community. The museum tells the story of Libya of yesteryear, its rooms filled with dozens of pictures of rabbis, a Torah scroll dating back seven centuries, a replica of a typical Jewish home, a traditional horse-drawn carriage and even wall hangings woven with gold and scented with orange blossom. But there is one more recent addition to the collection: inside a gold-embossed book is a page written in Arabic on May 20 of this year by Ahmed el-Sherif, a London-based Libyan opposition leader, in which he expresses his desire to see the Jews return to Libya. Israel's own contribution to the Libyan revolution came from DJ Noy Alooshe, himself of Tunisian extraction. He remixed a rambling Kadhafi speech into a dance music hit entitled "Zenga Zenga", which quickly went viral when it was posted on YouTube. "This clip which now has some 30 Arabic versions, has already been seen by seven million people," Alooshe said. "It has somehow become the rallying cry for the Libyan revolution." Read article hereOctober 24, 2011 No Comments

mysinchew.com 9-15-2011 by Charly Wegman OR YEHUDA, September 15, 2011 (AFP) – Members of Libya’s Jewish community, who emigrated en masse to Israel, are happy to reminisce and cling to their cultural heritage but they have no nostalgia for fallen leader Moamer Kadhafi. In Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, a group of around 20 elderly […]

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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 No Comments

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 No Comments

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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