Talk:Day of Revenge

GOCEreviewed

This article needs rewriting. It lectures about the rights and wrongs of what people did. It is factually wrong (e.g. the date was October 7, not October 15), and it's full of original research. The title is wrong (should be Day of Revenge). Plenty of material can be found by searching google in English and in Italian. --Stfg (talk) 14:59, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Articles should be deleted

There is not a single source on this page that even hints that there was a "Libyan holiday celebrating the expulsion of Jews and Italians from Libyan soil in 1970." This appears to be a complete fabrication. Mcdruid (talk) 05:09, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

There was a "day of vengeance" on 7 October 1970, when the Libyans expelled the colonizing Italians in 1970, but I cannot find mention of it as a holiday. There was no connection with Jews. Mcdruid (talk) 05:23, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

Number 57

@Number 57: you appear to have misread the sources, not checked their validity, and ignored my detailed edit comment. You have falsely written that 37,000 Jews were expelled in 1970, when we have much higher quality sources stating that there were only 200 left Jews in the country in 1969. [1][2] On another page you wrote "...was not one I came up with; I simply reverted..." but Wikipedia doesn't work like that. The WP:ONUS is on you if you want to re-add information, not the inexperienced editor who added all this nonsense a decade ago without any sources. Onceinawhile (talk) 15:20, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

I quoted the sources in the edit summary:

• The 1969 ousting of King Idris by Colonel Gadaffi in Libya instigated a process of expulsions for both Libya's Jewish and Italian communities numbering some 37,000 and 20,000 citizens respectively"
• Libya celebrated unashamedly the 'Day of Vengeance' when the country rejoiced over the expulsion from Libya in 1970 of Italian settlers and also also Jews"

These books are published by Stanford University Press and Springer, so they are hardly dubious sources. Number 57 15:25, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

@Number 57: I provided specialist sources above and in the edit comment which you reverted. The sources you quoted were already in the article, are non-specialist, and reference this topic in a minor way without providing any referencing of their own.

Can you please save us both some time, read these specialist sources properly, and any other high-quality sources you wish to bring, and then action as you see fit?

Onceinawhile (talk) 15:38, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

As you've repeatedly ignored my requests to stop pinging me, you are now on my ignore list. I monitor talk pages of articles I have edited and don't need pinging.

Regardless of whether the figure is 200 or 37,000, why would you completely remove mention of expulsion of the Jewish community from the article? Are you denying this happened? Do you need scholarly sources to confirm? Number 57 16:02, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

Because it is simply wrong. Again you have chosen a non-specialist source, which doesn't provide references, and writes in loose language. Here is the #1 scholarly work on the subject: De Felice, Renzo (1985). Jews in an Arab land : Libya, 1835-1970. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-74016-6. OCLC 10798874.

Here are three primary extracts:

Page 277-279 (describing the events of June to September 1967): The Libyan government, like the Tripoli and Benghazi news­ papers, tried to minimize the seriousness of the riots… Though the Libyan government had good intentions, it was unable to restore se­curity or even enable funerals to be held for the victims. It is not surprising, then, that for the vast majority of Jews the only possible solution seemed to be to leave Libya and seek refuge in a safe coun­try… The first official step was taken by Lillo Arbib on June 17. He sent a message to Prime Minister Hussein Mazegh asking him "to allow Jews so desiring to leave the country for a time, until tempers cool and the Libyan population understands the position of Libyan Jews, who have always been and will continue to be loyal to the State, in full harmony and peaceful coexistence with the Arab citi­zens at all times." The government quickly agreed: the emigration office started work on June 20 preparing the documents necessary for departure. The exodus took a little more than a month. By September there were just over 100 Jews left in Libya, all of whom were in Tripoli except 2 in Benghazi. The vast majority—just over 4,100—went to Italy.

Page 286: A few months after the military coup, there were only about a hundred left, mostly old people without relatives. The number was destined to diminish even more during the next few years, reaching less than forty in 1972 and sixteen in 1977. [Footnote: By 1982 there were only about ten Jews left, including one family (Raffaello Fellah, personal communication)]

Page 288: The last step in the process of practical elimination of the Jews from Libya was taken by Qadhdhafi on July 21, 1970. On that day the RCC passed three laws marking a radical turning point in Libyan history. In the first law the RCC, "in the firm conviction of the Lib­ yan people that the time has come to recover the wealth of its sons and ancestors usurped during the despotic Italian government, which oppressed the country in a dark period of its glorious history, when murder, dispersion, and desecration constituted the only basis on which the Italian colonizers stole the people's wealth and controlled its resources," stipulated "notwithstanding the fact that the State in­ stead of the people is requesting compensation for damages suffered during the Italian occupation . . . restitution to the people of all im­ movable assets of any sort and of movable assets attached to them owned by Italian citizens." The second law prohibited (except with special approval of the council of ministers) the issuing of further "licenses, permits, or authorizations to Italians to practice com­ merce, industry, any trade or craft, or any other activity or work" even by renewing those already in force.44These two laws were put into force in record time, by October of the same year.4' Through them, all Italians living in Libya were deprived without compensa­ tion of all their assets and expelled from Libya, even if they had been living there for decades or had been bom there. A third law of the same date was intended to close the books on the Jews. All their funds and properties already "under sequestration" (and those of fourteen Arabs and Catholics) were subject to "restitution to the people." What made the measure against the Jews—whatever their citizenship—different from those against Italians was the absence of a "historical" preamble.

de Felice then gives the full text of the law, which is solely related to property. There was no expulsion of Jews in 1970, or at any time in Libyan history.

Page 290: Ital­ians were subject to expropriation without compensation with the explicit claim that Libya should get compensation from Italy. The Jews suffered expropriation but were promised compensation. The official explanation lies in the "historical" preamble to the measure against Italians which, significantly, does not exist in the one against Jews. On a "historical" plane then, the RCC did not consider the Libyan Jews to be identified with colonialism. It recognized in prac­ tice that they were a component of Libyan reality prior to coloniza­ tion and independent of it. The reference to the law of March 21, 1961, established a clear connection, not only juridical but also po­ litical, between the measure itself and the Israel boycott, thus with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Such a connection is doubly significant. It protected the measure from any accusation of racism or anti- Semitism, clarifying the meaning of the letter which el-Huni had sent two months before to the Libyan Jews who had taken refuge in Italy and preparing the ground for the declaration by which, three years later, Qadhdhafi "opened the doors" of Libya to Libyan Jews and Jews from other Arab countries who had emigrated to Israel.

Onceinawhile (talk) 16:22, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

Onceinawhile is right that only a few hundred Jews remained by 1970, as a result of antisemitic pogroms over the past two decades. Onceinawhile is wrong with everything with their edits. The Day of Revenge was a "celebration" of the completion of the destruction of the Italian and Jewish communities in Libya and the seizure of their property. The Jewish community existed there from Roman times, before Islam, and numbered 38,000 in 1948. The Libyan government celebrated this complete destruction which they achieved in 1970. This is more important than any specific number. As stated here this is an "annual event celebrated the exodus of the Italian and Jewish communities from post-independence Libya". Removing all mention of Jews from from the "day of revenge" / "day of vengeance" is bad, very bad.Researcher (Hebrew: חוקרת) (talk) 06:55, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

We have proven above that non-specialist sources that don't provide references and write in loose language, are not reliable for this topic. You are proposing another conclusion based on an equivalently low quality source.

Most scholarly sources on the "day of revenge" mention only Italians. Let's please work to find a detailed source on the day of vengeance. I haven't found one yet, consistent with the comments from McDruid above. The events of 1970 appear to be much more notable than this day of vengeance. But if we can find a detailed source on it, then great.

Onceinawhile (talk) 08:55, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

The removal of content from this page is wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Holy Joseph (talk • contribs) 06:31, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

@Holy Joseph: please explain why you have added back information which is:

• Not described in sources which mention the topic of this article (see WP:SYNTH
• Failed verification (see discussion elsewhere on this page, where we have consensus based on quality sources that there was no expulsion of Jews in 1970 or any other time in modern Libyan history)
• Duplicating information now at 1970 expulsion of Italians from Libya and Jewish exodus from the Muslim world#Libya

Onceinawhile (talk) 07:50, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Your edits here are tendentious and your claims were refuted. Jews were forced out of Libya, as shown above. The day itself is connected to Jews and Italians: " as had the expulsion of 37,000 Jews and 20,000 Italians in 1970, which was marked by the state as a public holiday on 7 October, the 'Day of Revenge'." in page 149, chapter The Mediterranean Expulsion Machine by Ian Law. Or in Theorizing state-diaspora relations in the Middle East: Authoritarian emigration states in comparative perspective by Dr. Gerasimos Tsourapas this is an "annual event celebrated the exodus of the Italian and Jewish communities from post-independence Libya. Researcher (Hebrew: חוקרת) (talk) 08:08, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

@חוקרת: please read talk pages thoroughly before commenting. It is not a good use of other editors’ time to have repeat themselves. This is not a long talk page (unlike the other topic we are discussing).

As described above, we know Law is wrong because of what he says about the 37,000 Jews.

We also know that most sources state the day related only to Italians. However, since there are some sources adding Jews I had written: Some sources also claim that the 1948-67 departure of Libyan Jews was also celebrated. If you can think of another word than “departure” (which seems too soft) that would be good, but we know for sure they were not expelled. “Evacuated” would be accurate, and suggestive of urgency / danger.

Any comments on the WP:SYNTH, WP:V and duplication points?

Onceinawhile (talk) 08:33, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Several sources define this as a day celebrating the forcing out of Jews and Italians. I disagree with your opinion that Law is wrong, the day celebrates the forcing out of Jews and Italians over the entire previous two decades, and Law gives an accurate total number. The day was set on the date in which the forcing out of the entire populations was finalized by Muammar Gaddafi in 1970. Researcher (Hebrew: חוקרת) (talk) 09:23, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

@חוקרת: that is a repetition of what you said before. You and I agree on your first sentence. That Law is wrong about 37,000 Jews being expelled in 1970 is not my opinion, it is established fact.

Can you please address the points on the article content, so we can progress this discussion. Onceinawhile (talk) 09:35, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

@Mschiffler: pinging here as my edit comment ping didn’t work. A disagreement has taken place between editors here, but I cannot seem to convince anyone to spend the time required to read the sources. Do you have time to review this talk page and read the sources to help ensure we have a stable version of this article? Onceinawhile (talk) 16:22, 22 August 2022 (UTC)

The other issue is that an editor had readded a bunch of unsourced content which had previously been moved to / incorporated into 1970 expulsion of Italians from Libya and Jewish exodus from the Muslim world#Libya. The editor has not explained why they proposed readding / duplicating it here. Onceinawhile (talk) 16:36, 22 August 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for bringing the disagreements to my attention. I agree with some editors that the article may not meet the criteria for notability. The version of the article I read made it seem as if the "Day of Revenge" was a big annual event in Libya for many years, which apparently was not the case. If the article should remain on WP, I believe the current, brief version is a good summary. Given that many sources are not availabel online, I do not want to spend my time to verify all sources. But I will keep watching the article and hope it will stay stable as it is. Mschiffler (talk) 19:19, 22 August 2022 (UTC)

References

WP:GNG for "Day of Revenge"

Number 57 and חוקרת, I have searched everywhere I can think of for WP:SIGCOV of this "Day of Revenge", but cannot find it. In other words, I believe there is not a single source which covers this topic in any detail.

I have updated Jewish exodus from the Muslim world#Libya with the detailed source above. If you would like a detailed article on the exodus of the Jews from Libya, I would support the creation of a new article focusing on that.

I also think an article on the expulsion of the Italian community from Libya would be worthwhile. We can either repurpose this one, or create a new one from scratch.

I then propose to nominate this article for deletion, given that it does not meet WP:GNG. I will pause before actioning this to give you time to find one or more detailed sources. Onceinawhile (talk) 09:59, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

I have begun to list the sources below – the English sources are above; I have looked in Italian and Arabic. Please add the best sources you have. Onceinawhile (talk) 12:13, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

I agree, I cannot find any reason for this article. Mcdruid (talk) 00:10, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

There are sufficient sources covering this day, decades after it was started, for example [3]. Researcher (Hebrew: חוקרת) (talk) 08:00, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

They do not pass the WP:GNG test. Can you find a single photograph of the celebration, or an article describing the celebration on the day it was happening? I have been unable to. In fact, all sources I have read on it have ultimately been uncited (even the ones that are, trace through to a dead end). Onceinawhile (talk) 08:23, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

List of sources without detail (between one and three sentences)

• [4]: "Nel settembre del 1931 Omar al Mukhtar, quello che oggi è diventato eroe della nazione libica e ricordato da Gheddafi ad ogni anniversario (il 7 ottobre è il “Giorno della vendetta” ricorrenza festeggiata in Libia), viene catturato ed impiccato davanti ad una folla di 20.000 libici, fatti venire da Bengasi, da Benina e dai lager della sirtica."
• [5]: "Il disappunto per l’impegno “disatteso” non ha mancato di generare dei gesti di “ritorsione”, tra cui il rifiuto di concedere visti turistici agli Italiani del ’70, il ripristino del giorno della “vendetta”93. [Footnote 93: Il 7 ottobre 1911 segna la data di avvio della colonizzazione italiana della Libia ed il 7 ottobre 1970 la data dell’espulsione degli Italiani dalla Libia e della confisca dei loro beni.]"
• [6]: "in coincidenza con il Giorno della vendetta, celebrato dal 7 ottobre 1983 per ricordare l'espulsione della comunità italiana."

List of sources with detail (more than a short paragraph)

• [To come]