New York, NY – A member of the board of directors of the leading international humanitarian aid organization CARE USA has taken a voluntary leave of absence from CARE’s board due to the involvement of his employer, Africa Israel, in Israeli settlement activities. The move last week came after a July 12 letter to the Atlanta-based non-profit by the rights group Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel that outlined Africa Israel’s settlement ties, followed by letters from Jews Say No, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and CODEPINK, and meetings and discussions between representatives from CARE and Adalah-NY and JVP.
Riham Barghouti from Adalah-NY explained, “We thank CARE USA for acting swiftly to appropriately address this issue once it was brought to their attention. Representatives from CARE USA told us that they have approved the Board member's request for an indefinite leave of absence while he remains in any way affiliated with Africa Israel. While on leave, we have been assured that the member in question will not attend or vote at Board meetings, receive Board information, or play any other role on the CARE USA Board.”
New York, NY – In a major victory for the international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, the Norwegian government announced today that it has divested from Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel Investments and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus due to their construction of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The move followed a campaign of more than a year by affected Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Jayyous and by Norwegian, Palestinian, Israeli, and international activist groups, including Adalah-NY, calling on the Norwegian government to divest from Africa Israel.
The companies of Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev have been the target of a boycott campaign that led UNICEF and Oxfam to renounce donations from Leviev, the British government to sever business ties with Leviev, celebrities to seek distance from him, and divestment by other major investment firms.
Following related battles in 2009 at Hampshire College and the Toronto International Film Festival, a University of California, Berkeley measure was yet another signal that the divestment initiative, part of a broader movement popularly known as BDS, for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, has become a key battleground in the grassroots struggle over the future of Israel/Palestine.
New York, NY – For the third year in a row, activists protested in front of Lev Leviev’s store on Madison Avenue the day before Mother’s Day to discourage shoppers from buying Lev diamonds. The activists carried signs, chanted, sang songs and danced to raise awareness about Leviev’s illegal settlement construction in the West Bank. Passerby were informed that as we are about to celebrate Mother’s Day here in the United States, thousands of Palestinian mothers in Bilin and Jayyous witness the devastation of their families as their lands are being confiscated to build settlements by Leviev’s companies Africa Israel and Leader.
As our boycott & divestment campaign against Israeli settlement builder Lev Leviev continues we are asking everyone and their mother, to come out to:
WHAT: Adalah-NY's Mother's Day demonstration in front of Leviev NYC
WHEN: Saturday, May 8th from 1pm to 3pm
WHERE: Leviev NYC (700 Madison Ave, between 62nd and 63rd)
Join Adalah-NY in holding Lev Leviev accountable for building Israeli settlements by telling all those shopping for gifts for their mothers-- Boycott Leviev!
Single Lev’ies (to the tune of Single Ladies by Beyonce)
All the customers! (repeat 7x) Now put your hands up! Up at the store, we all showed up doing our own pro-test. You used to shop, now we want you to stop cuz settlements are a crime. We’ve got the facts, its apartheid, so don’t pay for Lev’s dia-monds! He steals the land and builds on it so you really should boycott him!
New York, NY – Fifty human rights activists performed for Valentine's Day shoppers compelling them to boycott the Israeli diamond and settlement mogul Lev Leviev outside his store on Madison Avenue. The New York protest took place against the backdrop of an escalating arrest and harassment campaign by the Israeli military against Palestinian human rights organizations and protest and boycott activists from the West Bank villages where Leviev has built settlements.
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