NEW YORK, February 12, 2010 (WAFA- For the third year in a row, human rights advocates will use music, song parodies and chants to invite Madison Avenue shoppers to shop with conscience before Valentine’s Day, Adalah-NY reported.
Under the theme “Diamonds are Forever, but Apartheid Has to End”, protesters will entertain while they educate with favorites like “Lev's Diamond’s Are a Crime’s Best Friend” and new editions like “Its Apartheid, So you shouldn't put a ring on it“ sung to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”
These efforts, which are part of a growing international campaign, come in response to documented human rights abuses in the Angolan diamond industry as well as Leviev's funding of Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, an activity that violates international law.
Since the start of the boycott campaign against Leviev, UNICEF, Oxfam, the British Government and major Hollywood stars have all distanced themselves from Leviev. The investment firm BlackRock and the Swedish government recently sold off their shares of Leviev's company Africa-Israel, though BlackRock denied they did so due to his settlement construction. In January, the Danish Bank Danske added Africa-Israel to its list of companies that it would exclude from its investment due to its settlement construction activities, as did the Danish pension fund PKA. A recent report indicates that the second largest Dutch pension fund PZVW divested from Africa-Israel. The Norwegian government has also been asked to sell its pension holdings in Africa-Israel over ethical concerns.
Leviev's companies Africa-Israel and Leader have built Jewish-only homes on Palestinian land in the Israeli settlements of Zufim, Matityahu East, Har Homa and Maale Adumim, impoverishing Palestinian communities and violating international law. Leviev has also funded the settlement organization the Land Redemption Fund. A recent exposé in the Israeli paper Yediot Aharonot revealed that the Bukhara Community Trust, of which Leviev is one of the leaders, is funding construction in the E-1 settlement area between East Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim. The United States vigorously opposes construction in E-1 due to the fact that it will compromise Palestinian territorial contiguity, obstructing Palestinians’ ability to travel between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.
In Angola, Leviev's close partnership in the diamond trade with the Dos Santos Administration is helping to support a corrupt government. In December, 2008 the Israeli financial journal Globes published an expose of Leviev's serious human rights abuses and failure to fully comply with the Kimberley Process in Angola (English translation). Also, in Namibia in 2008, Leviev fired around 200 striking diamond polishers, some of whom were already struggling to survive on less than $2/day.
