Interview of David Gerbi – Tel Aviv July 15th, 2026

Laurent Cudkowicz: Hello, Doctor Gerbi. Thank you very much for this interview.

Doctor David Gerbi: Hello. It’s a pleasure to be here.

LC: Is there an inventory of the Jewish remains in Libya?

Dr DG: According to my information, there are some things remaining in the old Jewish neighborhood of Tripoli. There is also a “documentation center” inside the former Dar Yeroussi Yeshiva. This center holds numerous documents, Torah scrolls, ketubot (marriage contracts), etc. The Libyan authorities collected and gathered everything they found in the synagogues and in other Jewish sites in the “documentation center”.

There is also marble that has been recovered from cemeteries that they destroyed.

I also learned from the Italian Ambassador that the city hall’s underground is full of registration documents related to Jews: birth certificates, death certificates, ownership certificates… Some of these documents are also located at the Italian Embassy in Tripoli. As Libya is a former Italian colony, Italy holds some of these documents. Some of these documents are secret.

LC: Are you the only one to have been able to see some of these items?

Dr DG: Yes, I am the only one to know their location and who has seen them. When Gaddafi offered me the deal [INT: David Gerbi’s aunt was to be freed after having been the last Jew to remain in Libya until 2002, in exchange for allowing the normalization of relations between the US and Libya][1], he wanted me to see many of these Jewish remains with the goal of manipulating me and increasing my motivation to fulfill my part of the deal. I could see all the items; I was the only one, and many are asking me about them.

LC: Is there a difference between the way these items are kept in the Tripoli part of Libya and in Benghazi?

Dr DG: Yes, there is. In Benghazi, the only remains I could see were the bones of Libyan Jews, which are kept in a warehouse, some tombstones, and an old synagogue turned into a church. By the way, in Tripoli, I have also seen synagogues that were turned into mosques.

LC: What is the situation currently in Libya, particularly as far as Jews are concerned?

Dr DG: The play is well known. According to the statements, Jews are considered like all other Libyans. But in reality, a Jew cannot travel to Libya. He would be jailed right away. A Jew who would request an entry visa would face questions going back to Gaddafi’s Libya narrative: “Considering what Israel did to the Palestinians! We took your goods because of what Israel took from the Palestinians.” But Gaddafi didn’t take the Jews’ goods to give them to the Palestinians. He kept them for himself.

LC: The Jew-hatred goes back to King Idris’s time [INT: King Idris ruled over Libya from 1951 to 1969 and was overthrown by Gaddafi’s coup.] Pogroms took place under his rule.

Dr DG: Yes, pogroms took place in 1945, in 1948, and in 1967. In 1942, the regime was Nazi-fascist. It deported 712 Libyans, of whom 562 died in the Libyan concentration camp of Giado. Jew-hatred was steadily increasing. During the 1945 pogrom, 133 Jews were killed. It had been fostered by the British authorities, who wanted this violence to show that the Libyan population was too “barbaric” to be able to become independent. The 1948 pogrom caused the killing of 13 Jews. It was followed by a huge wave of Aliyah to Israel. Nevertheless, Israel was one of the countries that voted at the UN in favor of Libya’s independence in 1951. King Idris was quite good for the Jews. I had the opportunity to work with his grandson, who was also a refugee [INT: like the Libyan Jews]. My uncle, Elyahu Journo z”l, was an advisor to the King regarding the appointment of Ministers of the Government.

After 1948, the conditions became horrific for the Jews. Many of them left Libya [around 30,000]. Some of them emigrated to Israel even though the conditions were not so good there. Only a handful of Jews remained, for whom, financially, things were good. Problems started to appear with the Suez crisis, the Six-Day War in 1967, and particularly because of Nasser’s influence on all of North Africa. Jews from Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt fled to Israel and other countries. King Idris gave us the possibility to flee but limited the amount of assets we could bring to 20 Libyan pounds per family.

At the beginning of the Six-Day War in 1967, with the start of the anti-Jewish riots, King Idris requested that the population “not soil their hands with Jewish blood”. This warning helped because the riots stopped. But during the 1967 pogrom, 17 Jews were killed.

LC: Was this a trick? [To prevent the population from attacking Jews?]

Dr DG: For some, he really meant it. Afterwards, he said to Jews........

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