Africa Israel (Danya Cebus) construction in the Israeli settlement of Gilo.

Lev Leviev’s flagship company, Africa Israel (AI), continues to build Israeli settlements, despite a November 2010 AI statement that it was not involved in settlement construction.

Initiative Press Releases: 

Press Release

Leviev’s Africa Israel Continues Settlement-Building, Contradicting 2010 Pledge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 18, 2012, New York, NY -  
Adalah-NY released new photos today showing that Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev’s flagship company, Africa Israel (AI), continues to build Israeli settlements, despite a November 2010 AI statement that it was not involved in settlement construction. Adalah-NY also revealed that US pension giant TIAA-CREF, already the target of a campaign calling for divestment from Israeli occupation, has renewed its investments in AI after selling its shares in 2009. Campaigns targeting Leviev and TIAA-CREF are part of the growing movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it ends its violations of Palestinian rights.

Riham Barghouti from Adalah-NY explained, "Despite a facade of transparency, philanthropy, and glamour, Leviev's companies, including Africa Israel, continue to violate international law by building Israeli settlements and engaging in unethical business practices in Africa. Investors like TIAA-CREF, organizations like the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and celebrities like Daphne Guinness should boycott Leviev's companies rather than abetting their human rights abuses."

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Press Release

In Norway Divestment Flap, Leviev Company Admits Gilo Construction, but Denies Gilo Is Israeli Settlement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 26, 2013 - Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel has admitted to ongoing construction in Gilo, an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem, but simultaneously denied that Gilo is a settlement in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. Africa Israel’s statement to the UK’s Business & Human Rights Resource Centre came in response to an outcry over Norway’s Ministry of Finance’s August decision to rescind a 2010 ban on investment of the Norwegian Government’s Pension Fund Global in Africa Israel and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus. Norway had put in place the ban on investment in 2010 due to the two companies’ construction of Israeli settlements in violation of international law.

On September 4th, Adalah-NY and three leading Palestinian civil society groups wrote to The Pension Fund Global’s Council on Ethics calling on them to swiftly reinstate the ban on the companies due to their ongoing settlement construction in Gilo. The Council on Ethics responded that they are “looking into” the matter. Norway’s Ministry of Finance announced the end of the ban on investment after Africa Israel told the Council on Ethics in April 2013 that they were not building any Israeli settlements. Africa Israel, owned by Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev, has a long history of settlement construction.

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Initiative Documents: 

Document

Civil Society Organizations to Norway: Reinstate ban on investment in settlement-building company Africa Israel

Leviev-owned company was cleared for investment due to deception.

September 4, 2013

Dear Members of the Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global,

We are writing to express our concern that Norway’s Ministry of Finance has lifted its 2010 ban on investing funds from Norway’s Global Pension Fund in the Israeli company Africa Israel and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus. The lifting of the ban was based on April 2013 statements by Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel falsely suggesting that the company was not involved in the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. However, as the Israeli civil society Coalition of Women for Peace’s Who Profits project yet again documented with photos, video and a pamphlet immediately after learning of Norway’s decision, Africa Israel and Danya Cebus are currently building homes in the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo. They have been doing so for more than two years.

We call on Norway’s Ministry of Finance to swiftly re-impose the prohibition on investment in Africa Israel and Danya Cebus. The Ministry noted appropriately in 2010 that these companies “are contributing to or are themselves responsible for grossly unethical activity.” The Ministry should adhere to the same standards that led to the 2010 decision to divest from the two companies due to their long history of settlement construction in occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law. Without quick corrective public action there is a significant danger that other actors may follow Norway’s well-publicized example and clear these companies for reinvestment, also based on false information.

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Document

Leviev's Africa Israel continues building Israeli settlements, despite its statements to the contrary to the Norwegian government

August 31, 2013 - Norway’s Ministry of Finance announced that is has repealed Norway’s 2010 exclusion prohibiting Norway’s Pension Global Fund from investing in Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus due to their construction of Israeli settlements. This clears the way for reinvestment in Africa Israel and Danya Cebus. The Ministry of Finance’s decision was based on a recommendation from Norway’s Council on Ethics, which advises the Ministry of Finance on ethically investing Norway's Pension Global Fund. The Council on Ethics accepted April 2013 assurances of Africa Israel and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus that they are not currently building Israeli settlements.

Immediately after Norway’s decision was made public, the Israeli watchdog group Who Profits was able to rebut Africa Israel’s claims, by procuring August 27, 2013 photos and videos now published on the Electronic Intifada showing Africa Israel and Danya’s Cebus’ ongoing construction of settlement homes in the Israeli settlement of Gilo in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

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Post date: 

June 18, 2012

Our Work: 

Content Type: 

Initiative

Shortlink: 

https://j.mp/3B1SOJ7