Diamonds & Engagement Rings News

Soon after Leviev tried to open two other jewelry stores in the Emirate, on Mother’s Day eve he posted an ad in the New York Times with the title, “Happy Mother’s Day.”

Mother’s Day was originally established in 1870 by an abolitionist and activist named, Julia Ward Howe, in order to unite women against war. Instead, it seems like its being turned into another day for making money in the diamond district.

Together with the very brutal Dos santos regime, Leviev hires the Angolan security  company to mine diamonds in Angola. The Angolan security companies have been indicted of, “humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and in some cases assassinations.” The area in which Leviev mines, making his millions of dollars annually, also has the poorest of people in the country, sometimes without schools, health services, roads, or even filtered water.

Mothers, mainly Arab and Jewish mothers, were at a fury with Leviev for using Mother’s Day as a day of profit. Therefore, a boycott was developed by Adalah-NY along with some New York mothers and Palestinian mothers from the West Bank, in two villages where Leviev had built settlements.

The angry mothers felt that since the governemtn isn’t going to do anything about the situation, they were. A group of women made colorful Mother’s Day cards labeled, “A Special Mother’s Day Greeting about the Lev Leviev Group of Companies.” Beneath that was a picture of a woman protesting. These cards were being distributed right in front of the Lev Leviev store on Madison, in NYC. The goal of this boycott is to deprecate violence, support humanrights, and stop using Mother’s Day as a day of profit for corporations.   Â

The seven-bed house in Hampstead, North West London, was bought by Israeli diamond trader Lev Leviev, worth £3.5billion after going from rags to riches.

It boasts a £750,000 stone staircase, an indoor swimming pool with gold-plated mosaic tiles, ballroom, hair salon and a bush which costs £20,000 to prune.

Leviev, 51, will move in with his wife and two kids.

            Israeli’s channel 2 news reports that Israeli diamond and property magnate Lev Leviev will make London his home base. Leviev is making a move with his family to monitor the progress of AFI development, (the Russian property) unit of leviev Africa Israel investments.             

 In May AFI raised 1.4 billon dollars, but the share has since lost about 35 percent in trading on London stock exchange. The Russian-born Israeli made his first billon in the diamond mines of Russia and Angola and now holds the marketing rights for diamonds for Angola, the world’s fifth largest producer of rough diamonds. 

 The Leviev Group also has diamond retail stores in London and New York. Since 2001, however, Leviev has turned his attention to property, rapidly expanding into Manhattan and Eastern Europe.

On December 24,2007 Susan Sarandon attended a cocktail party last month in the new Madison Avenue diamond jewelry store of Lev Leviev, a diamond-dealing real-estate who owns the former New York Times building and the Apthorp building on the Upper West Side.

      

     Now the California-based grass-roots organization has sent the star a letter asking her to ‘’publicly sever ties’’ with diamond jeweler, whom the group is shut out because he supports Jewish settlements in the West bank. Sarandon’s rep denies she’s allied with the high-end gem dealer.

                      

           In mid November the picketers, who were there for the Leviev store stood on the sidewalk with Palestinian flags, shouting, ‘’you’re glitz, you’re glam, you’re building on Palestinian land,’’ and, ‘’occupation is a drag, just say no to your gift bag. A source had said that Sarandon marched in and tried not to notice the yells outside.     

                            

    ‘’Leviev is a very dangerous force not only in Israel. His real estate development projects has been roundly criticized for shoddy building, harsh treatment of workers and dangerous buildings and work sites.            

      ‘’Jews who yearn and work for just a peace for Palestinians and Israelis’’ we implore you to take a public stand against Leviev. 

     Sarandon’s representative questioned whether the actress attending one Leviv event amounted to ‘’ties,’’ and added,’’ she has no ties to any jewelry diamond company.

Moshe’s comment: What chutzpah, they come here to the USA blow up our buildings and still make protest.

Protests escalated outside Leviev in New York City on Tuesday as a Palestinian interest group continued its call for a boycott of Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev’s new Madison Avenue store.

In a loud and eye-catching protest, about 40 people, lead by the group Adalah-NY, sung and danced outside the store, chanting “you sparkle, you shine, but settlements are still a crime,” and “how fancy, how pretty, Leviev out of New York City.”

The protest included “dancing cardboard diamonds,” which told the tale of “gems of injustice.”

Protestors also handed passing pedestrians gift bags containing soil from Palestine and a thank-you note that stated: “Dear valued customer, with every purchase you make from LEVIEV New York, you help Lev Leviev to seize a handful of Palestinian land in order to build more illegal Israeli settlements.”

According to the group, Leviev is involved in the construction of five illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

In addition, the group claims that Leviev and New York residential real estate developer Shaya Boymelgreen are pushing lower- and middle-income residents out of New York. The group alleges that construction problems plague these developments, and that the projects utilize underpaid, non-union workers in hazardous conditions.

In a statement obtained on Wednesday by National Jeweler, Leviev and the LLG Companies called the protests “politically motivated.”

“Those who have personally attacked the group or its founder are not aware of the extensive humanitarian work of the group, including building schools, orphanages and fostering economic development in communities around the world. The LLG Companies are committed to—and have been recognized for—philanthropic work in communities in which they operate.”

Adalah-NY says it plans to hand out flyers outside of Leviev on Black Friday, widely considered to be the busiest shopping day of the year, and is planning a large protest in the coming weeks.

“We will return as often as necessary until New Yorkers understand that Leviev’s triangle trade is built on human rights abuses and the destruction of marginalized communities in New York City, the Palestinian towns of Bil’in and Jayyous, and in Angola,” said Ethan Heitner, a spokesperson for Adalah-NY.