The Libyan Synagogue was probably the first Jewish Synagogue built in Jaffa in modern times. The first mention of the Synagogue goes back to the middle of the 18th century. It says that the building was purchased or built by Rabbi Yaakov ben David Zonana for the "Committee of Israeli Officials and Citizens in Istanbul." At the end of the 18th century, as a result of continued economic and social desolation, the financial situation of the Jewish community in the province of Palestine in the Turkish Empire (Sanjok Jaffa) deteriorated. The Jewish community needed the help of European Jews. Since European charity came mainly to Jerusalem, the Jews of Jaffa started to leave the city and move to Jerusalem. Finally, the Jewish property in Jaffa remained unattended and local Arabs gradually took over. During the conquests and destruction that Jaffa experienced in the 18th and 19th centuries (the time Napoleonic Wars), the Jewish community in Jaffa was destroyed along with the Libyan Synagogue. In 1948, Jewish immigrants from Libya arrived in Israel for the first time and settled in Old Jaffa, which the Arab residents partially abandoned. The place turned back into the Synagogue after receiving the keys from the building's doors from a Franciscan priest who served in the nearby convent and kept the property. He told them that this house served as a synagogue for the Jewish community in Jaffa many years ago.