A Jewish mother and her son have been allowed to leave Libya due to the intervention of French authorities, it was learned here today. The mother, identified only as Mrs. Khalifi and her son Jacob, who are of French nationality, left Libya at the beginning of Sept. under exceptional authorization by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. They had tried in vain to leave the country ever since Qaddafi came to power four years ago.
Last June, Gaullist Deputy Claude-Gerard Marcus, in answer to a request by Mrs. Khalifi’s family who live in Italy, contacted French Foreign Affairs Minister Michel Jobert. The French Minister told Marcus a few weeks later that the French Ambassador to Libya had intervened on the Khalifis’ behalf. He also said the Ambassador had intervened on behalf of other Jews as well. There were 42,000 Jews in Libya in 1946. In Sept. 1973, there were only 30.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
