Israeli law enforcement officials say they want to question Lev Leviev, the business baron whose companies allegedly are at the center of a vast diamond-smuggling ring that has operated for years.
Though a hero to the Chabad ultra-Orthodox movement to which he belongs, including for his expansive philanthropic endeavors, Leviev has been criticized, and his businesses boycotted, over construction projects in West Bank settlements. He has also been dogged by accusations of abuse at gem mines in Angola.
On The Electronic Intifada Podcast: Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi denied bail in an Israeli military court; Activists celebrate the closure of a New York City diamond store owned by Israeli billionaire and settlement profiteer Lev Leviev.
Ex-Leviev staffer testifies company bribed NYPD to quash protests at diamond store
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December 21, 2017, New York, NY - On Saturday New York human rights advocates celebrated the closure of the showcase Madison Avenue diamond store of Israeli billionaire and settlement-builder Lev Leviev by singing social justice-themed holiday carols for the eleventh consecutive year outside Leviev’s now former store. The closure of Leviev’s signature New York store followed 30 protests since its opening ten years ago, years of condemnations of Leviev’s businesses’ human right records, and a raft of conflicts and controversies involving the businesses in the Leviev Group of Companies.
Protesters outside the former Leviev store on Saturday sang Adalah-NY holiday boycott classics including We Wish Him a Loss of Business, I Made a Little Settlement, O Little Store on Madison, and Diamond Mines.
In his Jerusalem declaration last week, Trump attempted to legitimize apartheid and ethnic cleansing. The most powerful response we can have is to continue building a movement for justice for Palestine here in the U.S. An effective way to do that is by responding to the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. There must be a price to pay for destroying lives. Let’s show that those who profit from destruction of people’s lives, like Lev Leviev, are not welcome in our city.
New York, NY – Fifty human rights advocates with Adalah-NY and affiliated groups outshined the jewelry of Leviev Diamonds Friday night in Manhattan. Boycott advocates arrived to find Leviev Diamonds had closed for the organization’s protest for the fourth time in a row, all during the year’s biggest shopping periods. This year Adalah-NY scheduled the 10th annual holiday caroling protest against the companies of Israeli settlement-builder Lev Leviev to coincide with the Global Week of Action targeting Hewlett-Packard (HP). After caroling at Leviev, protesters marched to a nearby Staples store selling HP products for the second half of the demonstration.
Protesters, many wearing Santa hats, sang holiday carol tuned parodies calling for boycott of the two Israeli apartheid-profiting companies. They dazzled Manhattan’s Upper East Side with cheerful, anti-Apartheid holiday greetings and Palestine-solidarity messages, to the sounds of music and jingle bells.
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