Having failed to persuade the Libyans to compensate them directly, Jews from Libya are hoping that some of the $5 billion which the Italian government is about to pay Colonel Gaddafi for the ravages of colonialism will find its way to them. Ynet News has the story:
"Are Jews who immigrated to Israel from Libya about to receive a large sum of money from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi?
"The World Organization of Libyan Jews plans to ask Gaddafi for some of the funds his country is slated to receive from Italy in compensation for the period when Libya was under Italian rule.
"The Italian government recently announced that it would pay Libya $5 billion to compensate for the occupation period. Meir Kahalon, chairman of the World Organization of Libyan Jews, recently sent a letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, stating that "we believe Italy owes the Jews of Libya compensation for the suffering and pain engraved into our flesh to this day.
"Libya's Jews suffered to the same extent from the damages of colonialism and from loss of humanism upon their transfer to labor camps and concentration camps during World War II," he claimed in the letter. Kahalon also sent a letter to Gaddafi, demanding that the moment he receives compensation from the Italian government part of will be transferred to Libyan Jews in Israel."
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