Mohamed Ali Triki, a top official of Khalifa Ghwell’s National Salvation Government (NSG), made the call during a three-day conference held on the Greek island of Rhodes last week, the Libya Herald reported on Sunday.
The conference was organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the last exodus of Jews from Libya as a result of the 1967 Six-Day Israeli-Arab War.
Triki said that under the Beida-based NSG – which is competing with the Tripoli-based and internationally-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) for control of Libya – the return of Lybya’s Jewish community would be supported, adding that the community was part of the national fabric.
However, Ghwell angrily denied that Tikri was speaking on his behalf in Greece, saying that he had no prior knowledge of the Rhodes conference.
The conference, which was announced three months ago and organised by Rafael Luzon, the head of Libyan Jewry abroad, aimed to reconcile the exiled Libyan Jewish community with their native land. There are now thought to be almost no Jews left in Libya.
In another development, and some rare positive news for the war-torn country, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) reported that civilian causalities across Libya had more than halved in June compared to May.
It said nine civilians died and 26 were injured in June, contrasting with 18 fatalities and 50 injuries in May.
The UN report also accused, for the first time, Libyan National Army (LNA) Special Forces’ Commander, Mahmour Al Warfali, of being involved in the killing of captives. The LNA under General Khalifa Haftar is loyal to the HoR government in Tobruk.
UNSMIL has previously mentioned execution videos in its reports and referred to a “Benghazi commander” but had not mentioned Warfali by name.
However, UNSMIL said he was “clearly identifiable” in a new video that showed the summary execution of six alleged militants.
It is also reported that the corpse of a Tawerghan man found in a Tripoli camp for Internally Displaced People showed signs of beatings and fractures.
Overall, UNSMIL documented three deaths and seven injuries in Benghazi, two deaths and one injury in Zawia, one death and six injuries in Sabha, one death and three injuries in Misrata, one death in Tripoli and one in Hun.