For Immediate Release
New York, NY, December 17, 2011 – Sixty New Yorkers sang parody holiday carols calling for a boycott of Israeli settlement-developer and diamond magnate Lev Leviev this afternoon outside Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store. Twenty-five protesters continued on to the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) where they sang, chanted and distributed flyers in front of Daphne Guinness’ clothing exhibition there, which is sponsored by “Leviev Extraordinary Diamonds.”
Outside Leviev’s high-end Madison Avenue jewelry store, the carolers, many wearing Santa hats, greeted holiday shoppers for the fifth consecutive year with favorites from the Anti-Apartheid Caroling Songbook including, “We Wish You a Loss of Business” (“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”), “Oh, Boycott, Boycott, Boycott” (“Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel”), and “Lev We All Can see the Folly” (“Deck the Halls”). They sang new songs, including “Lev’s Dirty Rocks” (“Jingle Bell Rocks”) and “Diamond Mines” (“Silver Bells”). To the tune of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” they recognized West Bank communities like Bil’in, Jayyous and Nabi Saleh that are protesting Israel’s seizure of their land for settlements, and sang:
