tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post7417785655584256219..comments2024-03-20T01:06:12.181-04:00Comments on MEI Editor's Blog: Rebel Leaders, Amazigh Explore Contacts with Libyan Jews AbroadUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-49739793251610330942011-09-27T10:38:34.434-04:002011-09-27T10:38:34.434-04:00As late as last year, Qadhafi government was still...As late as last year, Qadhafi government was still keeping its lines out to the Libyan Jewish community in Italy. Some protection of property by the state in order to lure Jewish diaspora investors back, and there had been visits of Italian resident Libyan Jews. The former Jewish school in the old city was being kept in good shape, possibly with some Jewish diaspora assistance. The very large synagogue in the old city was something of a ruin, but it looked more like the result of neglect than looting, and it seemed to have government protection as a former place of worship. The old US Embassy building (a Libya Jewish property we rented from its absentee owner) was in the same wrecked shape it was when we evacuated after a Libyan mob entered and sacked it in 1979. Our impression was that it was still being treated as an absentee owned property. <br /><br />Bottom line: There is a lot the new government could do to cultivate relations with the Libyan Jewish diaspora.David Macknoreply@blogger.com