Thousands of Jews fled Libya after it was granted independence and membership in the Arab League in 1951. After the Six-Day War in 1967, the Jewish population was again subjected to pogroms in which many were killed, and many more injured, sparking a near-total exodus that left fewer than 100 Jews in Libya.
"The vast majority of Jews from Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq,Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Syria and Yemen have faced persecution and violence, have fled from their homes and left the countries where they lived for centuries, even millennia, solely because of their Jewish identity. They migrated to Israel, as well as to North and South America and Europe, where they sought to preserve their rich heritage and unique history, bringing with them the traditions, liturgy, customs and cuisine. Unfortunately, this is a tragic and little known chapter of modern Jewish history. I am one of those 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran who fled Libya, with the family and the whole community after the last pogrom in Tripoli and Benghazi in June 1967. (photo 1 Gerbi family). In Libya, we grew up under the monarchy of King Idris who, after the pogrom of 5 June, told us that he could no longer guarantee our safety as a Jewish minority and then helped us escape from Libya which had become extremely hostile to Jews thanks also to the propaganda of the Nasser-related movement of Egypt. After the Six-Day War of 5 June 1967 between Israel and the Arab countries, the Egyptian radio incited hatred against Jews and encouraged people to eliminate them. It was thus that the enraged mass got to the streets in search of the Jews holed up in the house in the dark and in the utmost silence. They started burning houses and shops and killing many Jewish families. The UN, which has limited itself to recognizing Palestinian refugees must recognize Jewish refugees from Arab countries because, like them, we have suffered too. Communities in Syria, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran and others have almost all been wiped out after centuries of relatively peaceful coexistence. Unfortunately, we are the forgotten refugees and our stories will not be heard in the European Union meetings nor we will ever see, exhibited in the corridors of the United Nations, photographic exhibitions of all these communities, as well as, among the thousands of resolutions discussed and approved in the last seventy years since the United Nations, the names of our communities, our families, our dear ancestors, and our collective confiscated and destroyed capital will not be found anywhere.
At the UN there is no special day dedicated to our communities or to the memory of us, 850,000 Jewish refugees, expelled from Arab countries and Iran after the creation of the state of Israel. Unfortunately, we are forgotten refugees because we have not made enough noise. The reason for our silence is to have invested the time, energy, and effort to rebuild a new life honestly without disturbing anyone." David Gerbi, Injustice does not go into prescription, December 2020
