Despite having settled there hundreds of years before Christ, there are no Jews in Libya.
I left Libya more than 42 years ago when the mobs were roaming the streets. They were not chanting for democracy or yearning for freedom — they were looking for Jews.
Gina Waldman.
This community, that goes back 2,500 years, has obliterated their oldest minority...They drink anti-semitism with their mother's milk.Gina Zanzur
After the creation of Israel in 1948, anti-Jewish riots and killings forced 30,000 Jews to flee. After the 1967 Israeli war, the remaining 6,000 were expelled, each allowed one suitcase and $20.
historic photo of the Jewish Quarter in Tripoli
reprinted from October 2011
UPDATE: An envoy from the displaced Libyan Jewish community now living in Italy, was told that there would be no place for Jews in the new Libya.
I certainly see your point, but the Lenni Lenape settled right here in the Lehigh Valley nearly 10,000 years ago and don't see any of them running around here. Cultures and demographics change, and, of course, being the victims of a European Judeo-christian genocide certainly didn't help.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 6:50 am: So using your reasoning, it's perfectly fine (outside of your generous aside regarding genocide!) that there are no Jews now residing in Libya. In fact, it should be *no surprise* and we should *expect* that mass displacement of entire peoples will occur over time. Here are the issues I take with your response to Mike's blog entry today:
ReplyDelete1) Comparing what happened to the Lenape People as a route to dismissing the ETHNIC CLEANSING of Jews in Libya.
2) The fact that crude White Europeans destroyed First Nations People actually speaks loudly for us to never accept displacement as a reasonable outcome for any ethic people.
3) Your attitude seems to be one of mild rebuke towards Mike for questioning what is unequivocally an ongoing massive historical injustice.