History of the Jews in Libya

The history of the Jews in Libya stretches back to the 3rd century BCE, when Cyrenaica was under Greek rule. The Jewish population of Libya, a part of the Sephardi-Maghrebi Jewish community continued to populate the area continuously until the modern times. During World War II, Libya's Jewish population was subjected to antisemitic laws by the Fascist Italian regime and deportations by Nazi German troops. After the war, anti-Jewish violence caused many Jews to leave the country, principally for Israel, though significant numbers moved to Italy and North America. Under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled the country from 1969 to 2011, the situation deteriorated further, eventually leading to the emigration of the remaining Jewish population. The last Jew in Libya, 80-year-old Rina Debach, left the country in 2003. The oldest trace of a Jewish existence in Libya appears in Sirte, which some archaeological surveys made on the "Barion" region there dated its synagogue to the 10th century BCE, during King Solomon's reign. Major Jewish settlement of Libya took place in the 4th century BCE. Ptolemaic Egypt had gained a large Jewish population after Ptolemy I Soter's invasion of Judea, during which many Jews were carried off as war captives before later being freed, as well as voluntary Jewish emigration to Egypt for economic reasons and Ptolemy's tolerant policies which followed afterward. In 312 BCE, Ptolemy settled many Jews in Cyrenaica to strengthen his kingdom. There is evidence of Jews living in Benghazi from 13 BCE. They were considered citizens, but were ruled by a Jewish archon unlike the rest of the Jews in that area. In 146 BCE inscriptions found at Benghazi and elsewhere in Libya, give details about wealthy, well established and organised Jewish communities. During the Greco-Roman period, Libya corresponded approximately with Cyrene and the territory belonging to it. Jews lived there, including many that moved there from Egypt; Augustus granted Cyrene's Jewish population certain privileges through Flavius, the governor of the province.