Jayyous & Bil’in Implore Family over Atlantis Diamond Store with Settlement King (Click here for Arabic)

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New York, NY, November 24, 2008 – As Lev Leviev’s diamonds went on sale in Dubai’s newly opened Atlantis hotel in the Levant jewelry store, owned by Palestinian-Moroccan Arif Bin Khadra, Adalah-NY released a letter today in Arabic and English from the West Bank villages of Bil’in and Jayyous imploring the Khadra family to end their relative’s partnership with Leviev. The Israeli billionaire’s companies are building settlements on the villages’ land. The September 27 letter from Bil’in and Jayyous said that Arif Bin Khadra’s Dubai business partnership with Leviev “betrays the Palestinian cause and is an insult to the sacrifices and pain of our people.”

The villages of Bil’in and Jayyous are awaiting a response to the letter that was delivered to leaders of the Khadra family in Damascus, Syria in late September. The letter requests the Khadra family “take a firm stand against your son’s betrayal of our people and against working in the service of the occupier that violates the rights of his people and appropriates their land.” The Khadra family is Palestinian, and said to number in the tens of thousands, spread throughout the Arab world, many as refugees from Palestine.

The letter notes Leviev’s companies’ construction of Zufim settlement on the village of Jayyous’ land, Mattityahu East settlement on Bil’in’s land, as well as the strategic settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim. Arif Ben Khadra, according to the villages’ letter, “effectively contributes to the campaign against our villages and aids the Israeli occupation” through his Dubai diamond partnership with Leviev. The letter adds, “It is shameful that the campaign by Palestinian and Jewish activists working to bar Leviev from entering Dubai’s markets to increase his profits and from building additional settlements is being undermined by your son, who spares no effort to facilitate Leviev’s access to consumers in Dubai.”

 New York Rights Advocates Protest Hebron Settlement Fundraiser

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New York, NY – Thirty-five rights advocates from Adalah-NY and Brooklyn for Peace rallied this evening outside the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square to protest a fundraiser held there by the Brooklyn-based Israeli settlement group the Hebron Fund. The fundraiser was held while tensions escalated in Hebron, as the Israeli Supreme Court ordered Hebron’s settlers to temporarily evacuate a Palestinian home they took over in 2007 with financial support from the Hebron Fund. The court would give the home to the Israeli government until ownership is determined. Palestinians usually lose ownership cases in Israeli courts. A settler leader responded that they would “go to war” rather than comply with the temporary evacuation order. It was unclear if the home was a focus of the Manhattan fundraising event.

Standing on 45th Street near New York’s Broadway theaters, the protesters’ chants included:

“Mamma Mia Marriott, you support a racist lot;” and
“Hebron’s settlers, Klu Klux Klan, racist groups go hand in hand.”

Aaron Levitt, an activist with Jews Against the Occupation-NYC who has spent time in Hebron as a human rights monitor, noted that, “We made a lot of noise, but I don’t know if the settlers heard us at the dinner. Some of them cast agitated looks in our direction as they entered, and I engaged a few in conversation. The subtext of what I heard from most when I described the settler attacks on Palestinians that I had witnessed in Hebron was that they see no equivalence in the moral worth of non-Jew and a Jew. This is racist in a deep and meaningful way. And it is a worldview that allows settlers in Hebron to throw stones at Palestinian girls every day as they go to school, and to drive Palestinian families from their homes.”

Charities and celebs seek distance from controversial Israeli settlement-builder
See Oxfam Statement

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New York, NY, October 27, 2008 – The October 28 release of the celebrity portrait book Hollywood Pinups by photographer Timothy White is being marred by controversy, as a charity and stars distance themselves from Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev who provided the jewelry worn by stars in the book. Oxfam America is named in the book as recipient of White’s book sales proceeds, and on the page immediately before, Leviev is thanked for his “support and contribution” to the book. In response, Oxfam America, which had renounced Leviev in January, has again decried Leviev’s settlement construction and diamond mining practices, and announced that it will be informing others of “the deliberate strategy of Leviev Diamonds to connect itself with unwitting charities and celebrities.” In June, UNICEF renounced all connections with Leviev.

Eighteen of twenty-three celebrity women in the book wore Leviev’s diamonds. The New York rights coalition Adalah-NY has contacted many - Susan Sarandon, Tea Leoni, Felicity Huffman, Vanessa Williams, Kate Hudson, Kate Walsh, Molly Sims, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Gina Gershon - and asked them to renounce all connections with Leviev.  Adalah-NY also notes that a photo of Oxfam “Ambassador” Kristin Davis wearing Leviev’s jewelry has been removed from Leviev’s website. Susan Sarandon, who was previously embroiled in controversy after attending the opening of Leviev's New York jewelry store despite a protest, wrote the book’s foreward, but did not wear Leviev’s diamonds in her photo in Hollywood Pinups.

Museum of the City of New York welcomes partner rejected by
UNICEF & Oxfam

Click here for photos

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New York, NY – Manhattan’s elite were aghast to be greeted this evening by 25 chanting protesters when they exited their SUVs and limos to attend a glitzy fundraiser sponsored by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev for the Museum of the City of New York. Leviev has been criticized for his businesses’ human rights violations and unethical practices in Palestine, Angola, Namibia and New York City.

The Director of the Museum of the City of New York had failed to respond to phone calls and a September 16th letter from the New York rights coalition Adalah-NY, that is promoting a boycott of Leviev’s businesses. Adalah-NY’s letter informed the museum of the inconsistency of Leviev’s business practices with the museum’s mission, and with non-profit ethical standards. Alex Stern of Adalah-NY explained, “I’ve been going to the Museum of the City of New York all my life to see exhibits about New York’s diversity and about local communities battling against poverty. So it’s upsetting to me that the museum welcomed a sponsor who is impoverishing and destroying communities around the world.”