Click here for sources showing Boymelgreen ownership of Green Park

Click here for sources showing Danya Cebus contracted to build for Green Park

Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East
Media Contact: [email protected]

For Immediate Release

Palestinians Sue Canadian Companies Owned by Shaya Boymelgreen for War Crimes
Lev Leviev’s Company Danya Cebus in Israeli Settlement Partnership with Boymelgreen

New York, NY, July 10, 2008 – Evidence gathered by Adalah-NY indicates that Brooklyn-based billionaire Shaya Boymelgreen owns the two little-known Canadian companies sued Wednesday for war crimes in Canada by the West Bank Palestinian village of Bil’in. Three Hebrew language Israeli media reports from 2005-2006 report that Boymelgreen owns the Green Park companies that are now being sued for $2 million in Quebec Superior Court for building and selling the Israeli settlements of Mattityahu East/Modi’in Illit on Bil’in’s land in violation of international law. The construction of Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention according to a broad international consensus.

Additional evidence gathered by Adalah-NY shows that, though not a target of the lawsuit, the Israeli company Danya Cebus, a subsidiary of Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel, was contracted by Boymelgreen’s Green Park to execute the settlement construction. Billionaires Leviev and Boymelgreen were US partners from 2002 -2007

Adalah-NY spokesperson Riham Barghouti explained, “We applaud the lawsuit filed by Bil’in for holding businesses accountable for settlement construction and violations of Palestinian rights. We also believe that these well-known Israeli businessmen like Boymelgreen and Leviev, who often try to hide their involvement in Israeli settlement construction from the international community, need to be made known to the public and to their business associates.”

Jews Against the Occupation/NYC (JATO), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)

For Immediate Release

US and Israeli Jews Support UNICEF's Decision to Cut Ties to Leviev
Call on Anti-Defamation League to Reject Donations from Human Rights Violators

June 25, 2008 – New York City - Jews Against the Occupation/NYC, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions fully support UNICEF's decision to reject funds from sources it does not regard as partners in the worthy endeavor of protecting and nurturing the world's children. Lev Leviev's ongoing and direct support for settlement building and land expropriation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories constitutes an explicit violation of Palestinians' human rights, undermines Palestinian families' livelihoods and thus threatens any viable and peaceful future for both Palestinian and Israeli children. Lev Leviev is no partner for UNICEF. Indeed, all those who support children and families and their fundamental right to security should reject Leviev for his direct involvement in crimes against Palestinians.

We are disturbed to see today's call by the Anti-Defamation League for UNICEF to resume a financial relationship with Lev Leviev. We hope that UNICEF will continue to reject funding from untoward sources and strongly disagree with the ADL's accusation that UNICEF is discriminatory. We challenge the ADL to defend Leviev's business dealings (settlement growth, land expropriation) as actions that improve the lives of all children. UNICEF's decision to cease accepting money from the man responsible for the construction of illegal Israeli settlements on the land of villages under military occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is nothing less than an assertion that human rights and international law are universal. As an organization which touts its commitment to securing "justice and fair treatment to all", the ADL should know better than to call for an exception to be made for Mr. Leviev.

Leviev, one of the richest men in Israel, has a long history of involvement in human rights abuses. He made his fortune doing business with the diamond mines of apartheid-era South Africa, and has continued his involvement with this bloodiest of trades in partnership with the Angolan government, which is presently attempting to expel the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights so it can more easily fix an election. Leviev is a longtime funder of the Land Redemption Fund, an arm of the Israeli far right settlers' movement Gush Emunim, known for its use of deceit and intimidation to illegally acquire the land of Palestinian villages, as well as a settlement builder himself. His Danya Cebus company has been active in Mattityahu East, Maale Adumim and Har Homa settlements, while another subsidiary, Leader, is building Zufim settlement. Residents of the villages whose land is being stolen to build the first and last of these, Bil'in and Jayyous, have reported new settlement expansion in process in the past month.

 Diamond Mogul, Lev Leviev, Facing Increasing Pressure for Human Rights Violations

Click here for the original PDF of the letter from UNICEF.

New York, NY, June 19, 2008 – A senior advisor to UNICEF’s Director said in a letter today that UNICEF will reject all partnerships with, or financial support from, Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. Leviev had previously provided UNICEF with support by sponsoring fundraising events in France. Leviev’s past support for UNICEF is featured in a number of places on his company’s website (www.leviev.com).

UNICEF’s rejection of Leviev’s support followed meetings with Adalah-NY, letters from organizations and Palestinian communities advocating a boycott of Leviev’s companies, and a visit by UNICEF officials to Jayyous, one of the Palestinian communities where a Leviev company is building Israeli settlements. Leviev’s diamond-mining companies in Angola have also been accused of serious human rights abuses.

Abdullah Abu Rahme, a community leader from the West Bank village of Bil’in, said, “We welcome UNICEF’s decision to hold one of the companies that has been building Mattityahu East settlement accountable for attempting to destroy our community. Our village has engaged in a three and a half year nonviolent campaign to save our land, and an international boycott is an important complement to our weekly protests. This is a victory, but we need many more like it.” Leviev’s companies have also recently built homes in the settlements of Maale Adumim and Har Homa, both of which cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Following boycott call, Dubai says Leviev has no license for planned jewelry stores

New York, NY, April 30 – In a sudden reversal, just 16 days after Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev publicly announced plans to open two new jewelry stores in Dubai this year, a high-level Dubai government official said that Leviev had no trade license to open a store in the Emirate. The report today in Dubai’s Gulf News, followed a flurry of media coverage of the April 18 call by Palestinians and New York activists for Dubai to boycott Leviev’s businesses over his companies’ settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Issa Ayoub, a spokesperson for Adalah-NY, an activist group leading a boycott campaign against Leviev, commented, “We’re gratified that, by refusing trade licenses for Leviev, Dubai has joined the growing movement to boycott Leviev’s companies due to their violations of international law and human rights abuses in Palestine and Angola. We repeat our call to the people of Dubai to stop entirely the sale of Leviev’s jewelry, even in local stores. Israeli businesses like Leviev’s need to be held accountable for their role oppressing the Palestinian people.”

An April 30th article, “Israeli has no trade license to open shop in Dubai”, by Abbas Al Luwati in Dubai’s Gulf News (archive.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10209492.html) quoted Ali Ebrahim, Deputy Director General for Executive Affairs in Dubai saying, “We are aware of these reports and have not granted a trade licence to any business of this name. If such an application does come to us we will deal with it accordingly.” According to the article, “Ebrahim said Israeli citizens were not allowed to operate in Dubai, adding that "precautionary measures" are taken to ensure that they do not. He added that Israeli businesses would be prevented from operating in Dubai through non-Israeli partners.”