In less than half a century, the ancient Libyan Jewish community, which had survived centuries of foreign rule and Islamic fervor, withered until it became completely extinct.

By the late 1920s, Jews living in Libya were economically prosperous and politically stable. It can be said that the slow but inexorable decline of the Libyan Jewish community began with the change in attitude of the Italian colonial authorities.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who assumed the position of governor of Libya in 1927, was the first to adopt an “assimilationist” stance towards Libyan Jews. He wanted to “modernize” them through a series of reforms. The Italian attitude provoked anger among the Jews, who noticed that the colonial authorities had a different attitude towards the Arabs.

Among the reforms, the most controversial was the issue of Shabbat. In Libya, even among the most “modern” Jews, respect for Jewish laws was profound and, when the Italian authorities began to attack compliance with the Shabbat, relations with the colonial government become tense. The first target was Jewish students. After decreeing that schools should only close on Sundays, Badoglio demands that Jews attend classes on Saturdays.

In 1934, when Marshal Italo Balbo was appointed governor, the community felt relieved, as Italian Jews considered him a friend. However, as time passed, he aligned himself with his predecessor's assimilationist policies. Behind this attitude was his plan to transform Libya into an economically developed state. Upon realizing the terrible living conditions of the Jews who lived in the Hara of Tripoli, decides to force them to adapt to the demands of modern life, making them abandon attitudes considered “old-fashioned and anachronistic”.

Once again, the Shabbat was the initial target. In Tripoli and other cities, commerce was largely in the hands of Jews; and, in November 1935, they were surprised by a decree that allowed stores in the new part of Tripoli to close only on Sundays. At the end of the following year, the decree began to include the entire city. Immediately the Jews protested and there were clashes. The response from the Italian authorities was harsh: those who refused to open their stores on Saturday lost their license and, in a macabre spectacle, two traders were publicly flogged.

Mussolini and the Jews of Libya

There has been much debate about the position of Italian fascism vis-à-vis the Jews. Basically, it was a reflection of Mussolini's ambiguous attitudes towards our people, most of the time dictated by political opportunism. According to the Italian historian De Felice, Mussolini had no special dislike for the Jews, nor any sympathy. He nurtured a “traditional” anti-Semitism, which had no political significance until he strengthened his relations with Nazi Germany. Still in 1937, the official bulletin of Italian foreign policy, Diplomatic Information, stated that “the fascist government has never thought, nor does it think, of adopting political, economic or moral measures against the Jews”. And in March of that same year, on his trip to Tripoli, Mussolini assured the Jewish community that “his government would always respect the traditions and religious rights of the Jews.” But, with the strengthening of relations with Hitler, there is a drastic change. In July 1938, the fascist regime published the Manifesto of the Race, and, in September, enacted the first racial laws that were to be applied in both Italy and Libya.

Racial laws placed Libyan Jews in a position of inferiority not only in relation to Italians, but also to Arabs. The first to be affected by the new laws were Italian Jews, who were expelled from the country. Other measures followed: Jews working in schools, banks, offices and public institutions were fired without compensation; the word “Jew” began to appear in the documents; assets belonging to them should be registered with the Africa Police. In this first phase, the least affected were the Libyan Jews, as Governor Balbo had convinced Mussolini not to apply them. When justifying the request, he stated that he feared an economic crisis, since Jews carried out activities and functions that could hardly be assumed by Arabs or Italians.

On the eve of World War II, around 2 Jews lived in the country, 30 of whom were in Tripolitania. There were another 22 in Cyrenaica, 3.653 in Misurata and 3.369 in Derna. These numbers did not include those of other nationalities.

The 2st World War
 
The war years were very difficult for the entire Tripolitan population, as the city suffered intense bombings. The neighborhood and the Jewish cemetery, where the Italians installed anti-aircraft artillery, were particularly hard hit. Many members of the community lost their lives, many others were injured; homes, shops and synagogues were destroyed. With Italy's entry into the war, the Jews of Libya found themselves at the mercy of the Nazis. But nothing happened, because, upon arriving in Libya, the Germans found themselves forced to use Jewish-owned services and resources, having to “postpone” any type of “Final Solution” for the local Jewish community.

In September 1940, Italian forces based in the country attacked the British stationed in Egypt. Soon afterwards, in a successful counterattack, British forces advanced to the Libyan ports of Bardia and Tobruk. The fight for Africa was fierce and Libyan territory became the scene of decisive battles. Between December 1940 and January 1943, the British managed to occupy Cyrenaica twice, being repelled by Axis forces led by German general Rommel. After the two withdrawals of British forces, Jews, especially those from Benghazi, accused of sympathizing with the allies, were severely punished.

Together with His Majesty's forces, the Jewish Volunteers of the 8th Palestine Army entered Cyrenaica. The young soldiers of Ishuv They found a community in dire need and immediately sought to help. In Benghazi, for example, they even distributed the food that the Italians had left behind, and, in many cases, shared their rations with children.

The situation of Libyan Jews worsened significantly after 1942. All racial laws in force in Italy were extended to Libya, including those relating to recruitment for forced labor, and new restrictions were imposed by the colonial government. Mussolini also ordered the construction of concentration camps in the interior of Tripolitania, where Libyan Jews were to be deported. It was the policy of sfollamento, which can be translated as “dispersion” or “removal”, carried out according to the citizenship of each group. French Jews were deported to camps in Tunis or Algeria, and the English to camps in Italy, being transferred, in 1943, after the German occupation, to Innsbruck and Bergen-Belsen.

Libyan Jews were basically sent to two camps in Tripolitania – Giado and Sidi Azzaz. The attitude of the fascists in Giado was cruel – from where, until June 1942, 2.584 Jews were deported, the majority of those who lived in the province of Cyrenaica. Food shortages and disease resulted in the greatest loss of life among all Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa during World War II. When the British liberated the camp in January 2, more than a fifth of the inmates were dead.

Three thousand Jews from Tripoli were eventually sent to Sidi Azzaz. Those interned in forced labor were treated relatively well by the fascists, largely thanks to the efforts of Moshe Hadad, an engineer from Tripoli who strove to make life bearable for his people.

The English and the Jewish Units

In January 1943, when British troops entered Tripoli, the Jews welcomed them as liberators. The community was economically, socially and psychologically devastated. Hunger and typhus still threatened to claim more lives. Jews imprisoned in concentration camps needed help to start their lives over. Those who returned to Benghazi – the community that suffered most during the war – found their homes looted and shops destroyed.

Financially supported by international Jewish organizations, the British acted quickly to alleviate the suffering of the Libyan community. They also respond to the Jewish Agency's request to immediately repeal racial laws, however, the discriminatory measures against Jews had already left indelible marks.

Jewish units from Palestine that had fought alongside the British were also stationed in the country. The soldiers of Ishuv They soon realized that the community would only be able to rebuild itself if community life was reorganized. They then serve as a liaison between the community and the British authorities. Furthermore, they sent reports on the conditions of Libyan Jews and their activities to the Jewish Agency and the Haganah. The soldiers began to request support from the Jewish Agency mainly for work in the area of ​​education, on which they focused all their efforts. They themselves opened schools, teacher training seminars and youth movements. They also created conditions to facilitate illegal immigration, especially among young people.

The work carried out during the two years these soldiers spent in Libya strengthened the links between the community and the Ishuv, and opened the way for Jewish Agency emissaries to prepare Jews for aliya.

The pogrom of 1945

In November 1945 a terrible pogrom shook the community. In the previous year, with the worsening of the economic situation, strong resentment against the Jews had grown among the poorest sections of the Arab population. This resentment, fueled by Libyan nationalist groups linked to Egyptian extremists, has turned into hatred.

On October 31, the British authorities received information that the Jews of Benghazi would be the target of attacks, but nothing happened, as the tension was dissipated by the Grand Qadi. But the violence that exploded on November 2nd in Egypt once again stirred up the spirits of the masses.

In the late afternoon of Sunday the 4th, Jews are attacked in Tripoli, simultaneously, in different parts of the city. An official British source described the violence as “brutal and savage”. Despite repeated appeals from Jewish and Arab leaders, the British intervened just three days later, on the night of the 6th.

O pogrom left 140 Jews and five Arabs dead, in addition to 450 injured. Most of the dead, men, women, old people and children, had been brutally murdered: dismembered, decapitated, thrown from windows and some even burned alive. The Arab fury devastated 747 stores and 575 homes; around 4 thousand Jews were left homeless and many others were reduced to poverty. The damage to the community was incalculable: ten synagogues were desecrated and burned, 35 Sefarim and more than 2 thousand sacred books destroyed and 89 thousand kg of silver cult objects looted.

Hope and confidence in the English had turned into bitterness upon realizing that they had done nothing to prevent the pogrom nor to suffocate him immediately. The preferential treatment of the English administration in relation to the Arabs was increasingly evident. Relations between Jews and Arabs also took a radical turn. The Jewish community had realized that the older Arab generations could not control the nationalists, and if any Jew still harbored the illusion that one day mutual friendship and cooperation could be reestablished, the violence of 1948 shattered it.

O pogrom out of 1948

The atmosphere in Tripoli was tense in June 1948. Local newspapers had published news about the proclamation of the State of Israel and its invasion by the armies of five Arab countries. The general opinion was that the Arabs would win quickly, but when the army of the nascent state repulsed the invaders, Muslim tempers flared.

On June 12, 1948, violence against Jews broke out once again in Tripoli. From the neighborhood where the poorest Arab population lived, an armed crowd left towards the Hara Kebira, Jewish quarter of the Old City. Among the mob were thousands of Tunisians who had left their country to fight against Israel but ended up trapped in the area. Upon arriving at the gates of the Hara, the Arabs were welcomed by armed young people – men, women and even children. after the pogrom from 1945, the Ishuv had sent a member of the Palmach, Israel Gur, to teach defense tactics to young people in the community. Rejected, the Arab crowd then went to the new city, where the Jewish defense had not been organized. The attackers looted Jewish stores and homes, leaving people dead and injured. The police intervened promptly, and by the afternoon of the following day, order had been restored in Tripoli. However, violence continued in other cities and towns in Tripolitania.

O pogrom it had ended all hope and the Jews understood that there was no longer a place for them in the country. Leaving Libya became their biggest concern and they saw Israel as their only alternative. This door, however, was legally closed by the British authorities until February 1949, when, after intense pressure, the British allowed them to leave directly from Libya for Eretz Israel.

Thousands were eager to get out. According to estimates by the Jewish Agency, the aliya of Libyan Jews should be around 6 thousand per year. However, the community warned Israel that the number would be much higher. Libyan pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism further aggravated Jewish fears about their future in an independent Libyan state. Almost the entire Jewish population of Libya – around 30 thousand people – wanted to leave the country. From October of the same year, around 3 Jews per month left Libya for Israel.
 
When, in November 1949, the United Nations approved the independence of Libya – which would be declared in January 1952 – it became extremely urgent to organize rapid mass emigration. The signs of what was to come were already clear. On the eve of independence, Prime Minister Muntasser even stated that he “saw no future for the Jews in Libya”. 

On December 25, 1951, the independence of the United Kingdom from Libya was declared, as the new country would be called. Thanks to British support, Sayyid Idris al-Sanusi, emir of Cyrenaica and leader of the Sanusi, ascends the throne under the name Idris I.

For the World Jewish Congress, Libyan independence marked “the gradual disappearance of an ancient Jewish community”. The numbers confirm this prediction, as between the years 1949-52, 30 thousand Jews left the country. More than 90% went to Israel, while others settled in Italy, France and England. By 1952, only a few thousand wealthier Jews remained – 3.500 in Tripoli and some 400 in Benghazi.

Jewish life in the Kingdom of Libya

The first two decades after independence were marked by strong nationalism and a series of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel policies on the part of the new government, whose concern was to maintain the fragile unity of its political forces. King Idris knew that any rapprochement with the Jewish community would be detrimental to his relations with nationalist groups.

From the beginning, it was clear that promises made before independence would be abandoned, and that the Libyan government would not include any Jews in political life. Although those who had remained in the country tried to live within a certain normality, it was impossible to ignore reality nor the virulent attacks in the media, which referred to them as “envoys from Tel Aviv” who were “exploiting Libyan resources to help Israel”. .

Soon after the installation of the new government, emigration to Israel was made difficult and, as well as travel, their postal contacts were also restricted until they were completely banned in 1954. The economic condition of Jews ended up deteriorating as a result of the numerous restrictions. in the commercial sphere. In 1953, when Libya became a member of the Arab League, the government began adopting the anti-Jewish policies of other member states. A year later, Maccabi was closed, as were all Jewish educational institutions, and four years later, the Jewish community of Tripolitania was dissolved.

Pressures grew in the late 1950s. The government forced registration of all Jews who had relatives in Israel and then placed “in its custody” all properties belonging to people residing in Israel. Nighttime raids by government officials on Jewish homes to inspect their mail became commonplace. If any letter from Israel was found, or even with Hebrew characters, the owner of the house was arrested.

At the beginning of the following decade, Jews saw their civil and religious freedoms restricted even further. They had no right to vote, nor a passport nor a certificate of nationality; nor could they hold public office. Furthermore, a new law gave the government the authority to seize the “property of certain Jews.” These were also prohibited, in 1958, from benefiting from the discovery of oil deposits in Libya, as the government pressured companies to employ only Libyan-Arab labor.

In the summer of 1963, the community witnessed a horrific event. Halfalla Nahum, 84, one of the country's most prominent Jews, was murdered at his home in Tripoli. An Arab gang was trained by foreign agents to specifically attack Jewish figures.

The exodus

The departure of the last Jews from Libya in 1967 was the culmination of years of growing nationalism, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel policies adopted by a weak government trying to appease nationalists influenced by Nasser.

For the Jews of Libya, the flourishing economy and trust in the king who, despite everything, proved to be a friend, meant that they remained in the country until then, despite the progressive deterioration of their situation. The 1967 Arab-Israeli war was just the trigger for the inevitable.

Across the Arab world, during the month of May, the media launched a campaign against Jews and Israel. In June, mosques encouraged Jihad against them.

June 5th began normally in Tripoli, but as the hours passed, when news of the attack by Israeli fighter jets and the annihilation of the Egyptian air force came on the radio, what began as demonstrations of “Week of Palestinian Cause” soon turned into violent attacks on Jews. An angry mob attacked Jewish stores and homes, causing fires, destruction and massacres. On the same day, more than 60% of community life and properties were destroyed, ten people were killed and many were victims of uncontrolled violence.

Realizing that the situation was out of control, the government sought to remove the Jews from the scene. Those who lived in Hara They were taken by military personnel into protective custody, out of the city, and others protected themselves with barricades in their own homes, with police reinforcement. However, the situation in Tripoli was chaotic and in Benghazi it was no different. On June 11, a plane with 130 passengers, mostly Jews, landed in Rome. One of the passengers declared upon getting off the plane: “We are alive by miracle. Since the outbreak of war, the Libyans have given us no respite. They came after us right in our homes, behind the barricades....”

Concerned about the situation, the president of the Jewish community sent a letter to the Libyan prime minister suggesting that he allow Jews to leave the country “until tempers calm down.” The letter, apparently, served to give the government an “honorable” way out of the impasse in which it found itself. The government knew that to restore order in the country it would have to expel the Jews, but it feared the repercussions in the West for this type of action.

Therefore, on June 20th, the police visited all Jewish homes to collect documents and, thus, issue exit visas and travel documents to all those who wanted to leave. The government had ordered the Department of Emigration to work without interruption and respond to all travel requests.

Around 5 Jews, practically the entire community, left Libya for Italy in 1967. Due to the conflicts, the first flights organized by the government began to depart at the end of June. It is believed that to pay for the evacuation, the Libyan government used funds that the Jewish community had “in custody”.

Many of those who left still deluded themselves, believing that their absence would be temporary and that, at some point in the future, they would return to continue their lives there. Or, in the worst case scenario, they would return to liquidate their properties. However, it became clear in the months that followed that Jewish life in Libya had come to a definitive end.

Gaddafi's coup

On September 1, 1969, Muammar Gaddafi, an army lieutenant, staged a coup during King Idris' absence. The consequences of Gaddafi's seizure of power soon became obvious both to the few Jews who had remained and to those who one day intended to return. In November of the same year, Libyan Jews suffered physical violence and abuse while those of foreign nationality were beaten and taken to prison.

Soon after the coup, the media began a campaign demanding the confiscation of all the assets of Jews who had left the country. El-Raid, which had become the official organ of the new government, writes: “Confiscate the assets of the Jews... and remove their cemeteries immediately, throwing the bodies of their dead into the depths of the ocean... Only then will the hatred of the Libyan people in Libya can be satisfied.”

Jewish cemeteries were in fact flattened without giving families the opportunity to remove the remains of their loved ones. There were four cemeteries in Tripoli, one in Benghazi and 16 in small towns. With this act, Gaddafi's regime erased Libya's Jewish past forever. The same could be said of the 78 synagogues that have been converted into mosques or, as in the case of Benghazi's Central Synagogue, into a Coptic church. Another 84 synagogues were destroyed – 64 in Tripoli, three in Benghazi and 17 in interior cities.

In 1970, Gaddafi's regime introduced new laws to strengthen Jewish property ownership. The Libyan dictator even promised compensation for the confiscation of Jewish assets, both private and communal, with government bonds payable in 15 years. However, 41 years have passed and no Jew has received any compensation.

On October 10, 2003, Libya saw the last Jew leave its territory. Rina Debash, an 81-year-old woman who lived in a nursing home in Tripoli, finally received permission to leave after her nephew, David Gerbi, a psychoanalyst living in Rome, intervened with Italian and Libyan authorities.

David Gerbi returned to Libya in 2011. After Gaddafi's death, with the National Transitional Council coming to power, he tried to reopen the Dar Bishi Synagogue in Benghazi, closed since 1967. However, his action provoked a strong protest popular, on the eve of the last Yom Kippur. After the attempted invasion of the hotel where he was staying by protesters carrying signs such as “There is no place for Jews in Libya”, the National Transitional Council asked him to leave the country.

To this day, unlike other countries in the Middle East and North Africa where some Jews still live, there is not a single Jew left in Libya.

Bibliography:
Prof. Roumani,Maurice M., The Jews of Libya: Coexistence, Persecution, Resettlement, Sussex Academic Press, 2008.
Prof. Roumani,Maurice M., The Final Exodus of the Libyan Jews in 1967, article published in Jewish Political Studies Review 19:3-4, 2007
Lybia: An Extinct Jewish Community, Beth Hatefutsoth, The Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora.
By Felice, Renzo, Storia degli ebrei italiani sotto il fascism, Einaudi, 1993