And maybe, they will even give life to the Abraham Accords for Libya?

Sometimes it takes a few generations to turn the lowercase – h – of history into History with a capital – H.

The almost complete extinction of 835,000 Jews from Arab and Muslim countries within just a few decades, is a testimony to this phenomenon. The Jews of these countries had inhabited these lands for thousands of years, long before the Islamic conquests. They could avoid death or expulsion in only two ways: adopting the Muslim faith or by accepting submission to the –dhimmi- status. Those who chose the latter became second-class citizens but were protected by the political authorities: discriminated against yet protected.

On the eve of World War II, Libya’s 35,000 Jews were more or less safeguarded. But in 1938, Mussolini’s colonial Fascist regime in Italy, adopted racial laws targeting Jews. These laws came into effect in 1940. Suffering under this legislation, many Jews supported the British troops fighting the Fascist Italian forces. Using this support as a pretext, the colonial Italian authorities deported thousands of Jews to the Giado (or Jado) concentration camp located about 200km south of the capital, Tripoli.

Whereas some foreign Jews was deported to Nazi camps in Europe, Libyan Jews and other foreign Jews were deported to concentration camps within Libya, including Giado. Under Italian command, the guards were either Italian or Arab Libyans. The appalling living conditions (or rather survival conditions) caused the deaths of 562 Jews. They were buried in Giado.

When the war ended, the situation of Libyan Jews did not improve. During a three-day pogrom in November 1945, 133 Jews were murdered and hundreds were wounded. The massacre was carried out by local Arab people, while British authorities allowed it. They........

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