Africa-Israel

Press Release

Ex-Leviev staffer testifies company bribed NYPD to quash protests at diamond store

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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 BusinessI Made a Little SettlementO Little Store on Madison, and Diamond Mines.

Press Release

MEDIA CONTACT: [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY, February 19, 2014 – Adalah-NY announced today that contrary to 2012 media reports touting Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev’s support for the New York City anti-hunger nonprofit City Harvest, the organization received no support of any kind from Leviev during that period. In November 2012, after media reported on Leviev’s support for City Harvest fundraisers, Adalah-NY mobilized letters from organizations and from over 600 individuals calling on the award-winning organization to reject funds from and publicly disavow Leviev due to his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements in violation of international law, and unethical business practices in the diamond industry in Southern Africa.

City Harvest’s just-issued 2013 annual report, and their 2012 annual report both show no support from Leviev. City Harvest spokesperson Cara Taback confirmed in a February 18 phone call with Adalah-NY that the annual reports provide a full and accurate list of all the organization’s donors, and that Leviev indeed had not been a City Harvest donor during the July 2011 – June 2013 period covered by the two reports.

Document

MEDIA CONTACT: [email protected]

January 30, 2014, New York, NY - Adalah-NY thanks the Norwegian Government for doing the right thing, and reinstating today the ban on investing Norway’s Pension Fund Global in Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel and its subsidiary Danya Cebus “due to contribution to serious violations of individual rights in war or conflict through the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem.”

Norway’s decision followed an educational and advocacy campaign by civil society groups. In September 2013, Adalah-NY, the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, and the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign wrote to Norway’s Council of Ethics documenting Danya Cebus’ ongoing construction of homes in the settlement of Gilo, providing photographic proof of the construction furnished by the Israeli occupation watchdog group Who Profits. The groups called “on Norway’s Ministry of Finance to swiftly re-impose the prohibition on investment in Africa Israel and Danya Cebus. The Electronic Intifada also published the information about the Gilo construction and communicated it to the Council on Ethics. Norwegian People’s Aid and the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (Fagforbundet) have actively worked to encourage the government to reach this decision.

Event

Where: TIAA-CREF headquarters, 730 Third Ave (at 45th St.), NYC

When: Thursday February 7, 2013, 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM

What: Demand that TIAA-CREF addresses the concerns of shareholders who have submitted a resolution calling on CREF to divest from Veolia and other companies profiting from the occupation of Palestine. Allow the resolution to go forward and be on the ballot.

Why: This year’s resolution calling for divestment is the next step in the We Divest campaign. Over 100 CREF shareholders have filed a resolution calling on the pension giant to divest from companies profiting from the illegal Israeli occupation and to end their complicity in the violation of Palestinian human rights.

Join Omar Barghouti, of the BDS National Committee, and other activists, academics, and cultural workers to show your support for this campaign at TIAA-CREF’s national headquarters on the eve of the deadline for filing resolutions.

If you are a CREF shareholder and would like to join in filing the resolution, click here.

Signs and hot cocoa will be provided. Dress warmly!

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