Israel Matzav

Shocka: Libyan Jewish refugee dropping plans to renovate synagogue

What a surprise. David Gerbi, the Libyan-born Italian Jew who wanted to renovate Tripoli's Dar Bishi synagogue and move back to Libya is having second thoughts.

Gerbi, a 56-year-old psychoanalyst who has lived in Italy, said he had permission for the restoration from the local Muslim cleric and members of the Transitional National Council, the force that ousted Moammar Gadhafi back in August.

But two days into his effort, it came to an abrupt end.

"The building is not safe. The area is not safe. There are a lot of people armed. We don't know what happens. So the best thing for him is to leave," said Hadi Belazi, one of many people in a crowd that gathered outside the synagogue in the city's old Jewish Quarter.

The atmosphere was tense, and Belzai's son Haitham agreed with his father.

"It's not the right time for this," he said. "It's a very sensitive matter. We appreciate having different religions in our country. We want that. But not at this time."

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For more than 40 years there was virtually no Jewish presence in Libya, though there was anti-Semitism. Calling someone a Jew in Libya is considered a serious insult.

Despite this, Gerbi came back to Libya to help the rebels as they ousted Gadhafi in a six-month uprising. Gerbi, who assisted with psychological treatment, earned the nickname "the revolutionary Jew."

He was widely believed to be the first Libyan Jew to return, though he hoped he would not be the last.

But his prayers were interrupted at the synagogue, and he emerged to the commotion outside.

"They told me that if I am not leaving now, they are going to come and they are going to kill me because they don't want Jews here," he said.

As he was talking, his security guard whisked him away, afraid for his life.

"My intention was to clean the synagogue and take the garbage out of there," Gerbi said. "I am scared only of God. If I have to die in this moment, I die."

As he walked down the street, people turned to look at him. Wearing a yarmulke and a Star of David pendant, he's was hardly inconspicuous. One Libyan man confided he had never seen a Jew before.

Some Libyan Jews didn't like the idea either.

“This is not a one-man show,” said Raphael Luzon, a Libyan Jew living in the UK who had negotiated with longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and is involved in talks with the National Transitional Council (NTC).

“You have to be part of a framework, part of an organization. I have received many calls from [Libyan Jews in] Rome because he is not talking about the community but about himself as a new messiah. We have to move very carefully.”

In Rome, a leader of the local Libyan Jewish community, the second largest after Israel, was also critical of Gerbi’s tactics.

“I personally believe that such personal initiatives, without any coordination with the Jewish community, is not in its interests,” said Elio Raccah over the phone. “We believe such talks should be done on a collective basis. The rebuilding of a synagogue by itself is an isolated concession because what we want is restitution of our rights and certainly not of a single building.”

But Meir Kahlon, the head of the Israeli-based World Organization of Libyan Jewry, rejected those arguments, saying Gerbi acted responsibly and with authority.

“I sent Gerbi,” said Kahlon. “We speak for all the Libyan Jews in Israel and many outside the country. I don’t need permission from the Libyan Jews in Italy or the UK.”

Kahlon defended Gerbi, saying he did not plan to renovate the building, only to clean it from debris so that Jews could pray there. “The problem is that everybody thinks they can do better,” he added.

Talks between representatives of the roughly 200,000 Jews of Libyan descent in the Diaspora and the Libyan government over restoring their civil rights and restitution of Jewish property have been going on for years without real progress.

I don't expect to see a lot of Jews living in Libya for some time to come.

Labels: David Gerbi, Libyan Jewry, Tripoli

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:49 PM