NEW YORK, December 16, 2012 (WAFA) – Eighty New Yorkers Saturday sang parody carols in front of Israeli settlement-developer and diamond magnate Lev Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store, which supports settlement activities in the West Bank, said a press release by Adalah-NY.

The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, Adalah-NY said this was the sixth annual holiday demonstration at the store, which companies have built thousands of Israeli settlement homes on Palestinian land, and are involved in human rights abuses and unethical business practices in the diamond industry in Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The protest took place during a period of heightened international criticism of Israeli settlement expansion.

Protesters sang songs such as “Leviev the Two-Faced Magnate” while holding signs pointing out Leviev’s theft of Palestinian land and urging shoppers to boycott the store.

The demonstration also featured accompaniment by the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, which played a new arrangement of the Palestinian song “Wein ‘a Ramallah.”

The protesters also sang a song which lyrics highlighted how Oxfam America and UNICEF, along with CARE, the governments of Norway and the United Kingdom, and Hollywood stars have all sought distance from Leviev’s companies over their human rights record.

Members of Adalah-NY handed leaflets to holiday shoppers, including several who stopped on the sidewalk to listen to the music.

A Palestinian man who passed by during the protest said, “This means so much to me.”

Riham Barghouti of Adalah-NY detailed the recent call for the anti-hunger nonprofit City Harvest, which has been reported to be the recipient of fundraisers hosted by Leviev, to reject funds from and disavow any relationship with him. Barghouti explained, “Making Palestinians hungry by taking away their land and livelihoods is no way to fight hunger in New York.”

The Protesters also urged local nonprofit City Harvest to reject Leviev’s support.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Superannuation Fund, which invests $20 billion on behalf of New Zealand’s government, announced its divestment from Leviev’s companies and two others due to their construction of settlements and Israel’s wall in violation of international law.

M.H./F.R.