Land Developer BDS (Leviev)

Valentine's Day protest at Leviev NYC on Feb 6, 2016
Third time we shut down the store. Our Valentine's Day protest at Leviev NYC on Feb 6, 2016

Press Release

New Yorkers join worldwide protests for freedom for Palestinian activist who opposes Leviev’s settlements, 10/17/2009

New York, NY – On Saturday forty New York human rights advocates rallied on a cold fall day at the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli settlement mogul Lev Leviev to demand that Israel release jailed Palestinian boycott activist Mohammad Othman. Othman, held without charges and in solitary confinement since September 22nd, is from Jayyous, a West Bank village where Leviev’s company Leader is building the Israeli settlement of Zufim. The protesters also called for an end to Israel’s wave of arrests of Palestinian activists from Bil’in, another West Bank village campaigning against the construction of settlement homes by another Leviev company, Africa-Israel.

Andrew Kadi of Adalah-NY commented, “Israel’s arrest of Mohammad Othman and residents of Bil’in simply affirms the need for a global movement of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), similar to the movement against apartheid South Africa, to hold Israel accountable, and pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights.”

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Event

Saturday Demonstration at Leviev: Free Mohammad Othman! Stop the arrests of Palestinian BDS Campaigners!


Join Adalah-NY and the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI) for a protest at the Leviev store. Stand with the villages of Jayyous & Bil'in to say no to Leviev's settlements and Israel’s imprisonment of Palestinian boycott activists. Also, check out The Nation's call to Act Now to Free Jayyous' Mohammad Othman (http://www.thenation.com/blogs/actnow/485341/free_mohammad_othman) and sign the on-line petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/STW2/petition.html).

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Document

Free human rights defender Mohammad Othman now!

Adalah-NY calls on people in New York and worldwide to work for the immediate release of Palestinian human rights defender Mohammad Othman. For the past two years, Adalah-NY has focused attention on the dire human rights situation in the West Bank farming village of Jayyous in which Mohammad Othman resides. Jayyous has been devastated by the construction on the village's land of the Zufim settlement by Israeli businessman Lev Leviev, as well as Israel's construction of its wall. Israel's wall, which cuts Jayyous off from most of its farmland, is intended to annex that land for the expansion of Leviev's Zufim settlement. The Israeli army has responded to Jayyous' protests against the construction of the wall and settlements with violence and arrests. Due to the involvement of Leviev's companies in settlement construction in Jayyous and other Palestinian villages, Adalah-NY and groups in Palestine and around the world have called for a global boycott of Leviev's businesses.

Within the overall context of Adalah-NY's concern for human rights defenders from Jayyous, we call on people to act to support the campaign outlined below to Free Mohammad Othman Now!


Free Mohammad Othman Now!

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Press Coverage

The Forward

Palestinian-Led Movement To Boycott Israel Is Gaining Support

Abstract: 

Though certainly not the cause of his financial collapse, for the past two years, activists including Adalah-NY have singled out Lev Leviev as one of their high-profile villains for his large contributions to West Bank settlements. And they have been effective gadflies. The pro-Palestinian activists are affiliated with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, an international coalition with the goal of isolating and discomfiting Israel just as South Africa’s apartheid regime was targeted in the 1980s.

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Press Release

Report and Statement Indicate that TIAA-CREF Has Divested from Africa-Israel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY – TIAA-CREF confirmed in statements to the media today that it divested from Africa-Israel earlier this year. The statements responded to a letter initiated by Adalah-NY and signed by TIAA-CREF clients calling on TIAA-CREF to divest from Africa-Israel, owned by Lev Leviev. A TIAA-CREF spokesperson told The Chronicle of Higher Education that TIAA-CREF "no longer owns shares in Africa-Israel Investments Ltd."

A recently published TIAA-CREF report also confirms that TIAA-CREF no longer holds Africa-Israel shares. This new report, dated June 30, 2009, was posted on the TIAA-CREF website sometime in the last 10 days while the letter to TIAA-CREF was being circulated for signatures. The previous report dated March 31, 2009 showed that TIAA-CREF had owned $257,000 in Africa-Israel Investments stock. Adalah-NY did not recognize that this new report came online in the last days.

Adalah-NY takes full responsibility for providing out-of-date information to those who signed the letter, who recruited colleagues to sign, and who spoke with media about the letter.

Despite the recent divestment from Africa-Israel, the new June 30th TIAA-CREF report indicates that the fund continues to invest clients' money in a number of companies supporting Israeli settlement activity including Israel Discount Bank, Cellcom Israel, Bezeq Israeli Telecommunications Corp, Bank Leumi, and Motorola, among others.

Lev Leviev’s companies have been the target of a boycott and divestment campaign since November 2007 in reaction to their settlement construction and their involvement in human rights abuses in the diamond industry in Angola and Namibia. Africa-Israel is currently in the throes of a financial crisis.

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Press Release

TIAA-CREF Clients Ask Fund to Divest from Levievs Africa-Israel Due to Israeli Settlements, 09/11/2009

(CORRECTION: The report that Adalah-NY references showing TIAA-CREF investment in Africa-israel was actually dated March 31, 2009. This report seems to be no longer available on the TIAA-CREF website, though a copy is available from Adalah-NY. The June 30th report has been made available online in its place as of the past several days by TIAA-CREF. After at least several years of investment in Africa-Israel, TIAA-CREF's June 30th report does not show an investment in Africa-Israel. The June 30th report shows that TIAA-CREF continues to be complicit in funding settlement activity through investments in Israel Discount Bank, Cellcom Israel, Bezeq Israeli Telecommunications Corp, Bank Leumi, and Motorola, among others.)

New York, NY – In an open letter published today, 59 clients of TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, College Retirement Equities Fund) called on the multi-billion dollar financial services and retirement firm to divest from its holdings in Lev Leviev’s company Africa-Israel due to Africa-Israel’s construction of Israeli settlements in violation of international law. The divestment call comes shortly after Africa-Israel announced that it is unable to repay debts, sending its stocks plummeting, and triggering emergency bondholder meetings.

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Press Coverage

Adnkronos International

Billionaire with settlement links targeted in divestment campaign

Abstract: 

Fifty-nine clients from a US-based financial services and retirement firm have called for it to divest from a company involved in the construction of Israeli settlements and owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. The TIAA-CREF clients made the appeal in an open letter published by Adalah-NY, a non-governmental organisation involved in a campaign calling for divestment against Israel.

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Press Coverage

Ha'aretz

Why stop with Elbit?

Abstract: 

The question is not why Norway divested from the defense electronics giant Elbit Systems, but why only now, and why only from that company? The country that gave the name of its capital city to what the world thought of as a peace process is still invested in companies involved in construction and development in the West Bank settlements - the principal factor in destroying any chance for peace (at least any peace other than the belligerent demand that the Palestinians say "thank you" for what Israel is willing to give them).

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Press Coverage

Ha'aretz

Oslo pressured to dump Africa Israel as well

Abstract: 

A day after Norway announced its divestment from holdings in electronics defense company Elbit Systems for ideological reasons, human rights organizations including Adalah-NY are calling on Oslo to dump its holdings in Africa Israel Investments as well.

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