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New York, NY, May 7 – On the day before Mother’s Day, 30 New Yorkers protested outside Lev Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store against the illegal settlement construction by the Israeli billionaire and diamond mogul. The protesters called on shoppers to boycott Leviev even as residents from the West Bank village of Jayyous reported that a Leviev company, Leader Management and Development, continues to build settlement homes on Jayyous’ agricultural land. Following boycott pressure, one Leviev company, Africa Israel, stated in November 2010 that it had no plans to build additional Israeli settlements.

Riham Barghouti of Adalah-NY explained, “No diamond is worth the destruction of people’s lives. Millions of Palestinian mothers are unable to celebrate Mother’s Day because their children or husbands have been jailed or killed for opposing Israeli occupation, their farmland has been stolen for Israeli settlements or they have been forced to live as refugees in exile. As part of the global movement to boycott businesses that profit from Israeli apartheid, this protest aims to send a message of hope to Palestinian mothers.”

Update 3/9/2011: Adalah-NY takes factual accuracy extremely seriously. Following the meeting that representatives of Adalah-NY and ICAHD had with Mr. Seeger, all parties reviewed and agreed to the Adalah-NY/ICAHD February 28th press release and the quotes in it before it was issued.

After our February 28th press release, other callers published statements from Mr. Seeger that could be interpreted as somewhat different from those in our press release, quoting him as saying that his “opinions waver” with new information. We do not consider this to be a retraction of his stated support for BDS. We are happy that increasing numbers of performing artists are studying the colonial situation in Palestine and supporting the Palestinian call to pressure Israel through boycott. We applaud Pete Seeger for his active concern with this issue and are certain his statements will encourage other artists to participate as well.

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February 28, 2011- Folk music legend Pete Seeger has come out in support of the growing Palestinian movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel as a program for justice for Palestinians and a route to peace in the Middle East.

Seeger, 92, participated in last November’s online virtual rally “With Earth and Each Other,” sponsored by the Arava Institute, an Israeli environmental organization, and by the Friends of the Arava Institute. The Arava Institute counts among its close partners and major funders the Jewish National Fund, responsible since 1901 for securing land in Palestine for the use of Jews only while dispossessing Palestinians. Although groups in the worldwide BDS movement had requested he quit the event, Seeger felt that he could make a strong statement for peace and justice during the event.

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February 20, West Palm Beach, FL, The Kravis Center, 7 PM – 8:30 PM, Miami-Dade Green Party
February 22, New York, NY, Carnegie Hall, 5:30 PM – 7:15 PM,  Adalah-NY
February 23, Newark, NJ, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM, Adalah-NY & People's Organization for Progress (POP)
February 26, Seattle, WA, Benaroya Hall, 7:15 PM – 8:15 PM, Palestine Solidarity Committee – Seattle
February 27, San Francisco, CA, Davies Symphony Hall, 6 PM, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!)
March 1, Los Angeles, CA, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 6:30 PM – 8 PM, BDS-LA

Performances of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) will be met with protests in six of seven cities where the IPO will play during its US tour this February and March. Human rights advocates plan to protest the IPO’s role in whitewashing Israel’s apartheid policies against the Palestinian people. The protests will be held at IPO performances in West Palm Beach, New York City, Newark, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

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New York, NY – Sixty human rights advocates, many sporting Santa hats, performed Christmas carol parodies and theatrical skits calling for the boycott of Israeli diamond mogul and settlement-builder Lev Leviev outside his Madison Avenue store this afternoon. Carolers celebrated the boycott movement’s success in pressuring Leviev’s company Africa Israel to cease settlement building and demanded that Leviev’s company Leader Management and Development do the same.

Carols, including “The 12 Days of Boycott,” highlighted the achievements of growing boycott movement. To the tune of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” the carolers chorused, “Oh justice for Palestinian, women and men, the question is not i-i-if, but when.”

A street theater skit, “The Grinch who Tried to Steal Palestine,” unmasked Leviev’s settlement construction, saying, “If you take off his mask, and expose his dark task, you will see his true crime is to steal Palestine.” Hundreds of Madison Avenue shoppers, many clad in fur coats, took holiday card flyers with a poem inside that began, “Twas the night before Christmas in Lev Leviev’s shop, Not a customer was browsing, shopping season a flop.”