http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=13464
Protesters Tell Business Leaders: No Business with Apartheid Israel
Date : 5/12/2009 Time : 12:27
NEW YORK, December 5, 2009- 25 New York City human rights advocates
demonstrated Friday morning, in front of Leviev store on Madison Avenue,
demanding boycott of Leviev’s companies due to their involvement in Israeli
settlement construction in violation of international law, and human rights
abuses in the diamond industry in Angola, The Coalition for Justice in the
Middle East (Adalah-NY) said.
The protestors surprised the Israel Business Leaders Delegation to the United
States with a noisy protest outside their “breakfast reception amidst the
Leviev jewelry collection.”
Groups worldwide have conducted a successful campaign for the boycott of
Leviev’s companies due to their involvement in Israeli settlement construction.
In addition to businesspeople, among the guests present at the breakfast was TV
personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Guests watched from the second floor of
Leviev's store as protesters chanted and sang outside. Some attempted to defend
Israel's dismal human rights record when they left. The protest came as Leviev
is struggling in court in Israel to save his company Africa-Israel from
bankruptcy and from creditors, and to retain ownership.
Ethan Heitner from Adalah-NY explained, “By holding this breakfast at Leviev,
the Israel Business Leaders Delegation and the American-Israel Friendship
League have endorsed Israeli settlements. People should not be attending lavish
breakfasts hosted by Leviev when his settlements are cutting off Palestinian
villages from their farmland and impoverishing them, and Palestinian activists
like Mohammad Othman from Jayyous are being imprisoned for protesting against
them.”
The breakfast at Leviev’s store came at the end of a three-day New York program
for the delegation, organized by the America-Israel Friendship League that
featured business and government VIPs from Israel and the US, including guest
speakers like AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, Loews President James Tisch, Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, and
Israeli Government Ministers Gideon Sa’ar and Uzi Landau.
In addition to Leviev, other Israeli companies featured in the delegation are
deeply involved in Israel’s apartheid policies. Michael Federmann, Chairman of
the Board of Elbit Systems Ltd. spoke in the “Homeland Security Roundtable,”
though the Norwegian government divested from Elbit due to its provision of
surveillance equipment for Israel’s wall that cuts through the West Bank,
separating Palestinians from their farmland.
Another speaker was Moshe Gaon, Chairman of the Board of B. Gaon Holdings. B.
Gaon Holdings is one of the owners of Ahava, the Israeli cosmetics company that
has been the subject of a successful worldwide boycott campaign launched by
CODEPINK over Ahava’s exploitation of Dead Sea minerals from the Occupied West
Bank, in violation of international law.
Alexis Stern from Adalah-NY explained, “The visit of this Israeli business
delegation to the US was shameful, because there should be no business as usual
with Apartheid Israel. Many Israeli companies are directly or indirectly
involved in supporting Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. They
should be boycotted, not celebrated.”
Hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations have called for a worldwide
movement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, modeled on
the anti-apartheid movement against South Africa, aiming to end Israeli abuses
of Palestinian rights. The BDS movement gained momentum following Israel’s
winter assault on the Gaza that killed more than 1500 Palestinians.
UNICEF, Oxfam, The British Government and major Hollywood stars have all
distanced themselves from Leviev. The investment firm BlackRock, pension giant
TIAA-CREF and the Swedish government recently sold off their shares of Leviev’s
company Africa-Israel, though BlackRock and TIAA-CREF denied they did so due to
his settlement construction. The Norwegian government has also been asked to
sell its pension holdings in Africa-Israel over ethical concerns.
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