Settlement Czar Now in Oxfam Flap

by Philip Weiss on January 15, 2008 · 17 comments

This is funny. Lev Leviev, the Russian-born Israeli diamond boss who has funded settlements in the West Bank and a fancy diamond store on Madison Avenue in New York, has boasted in a Russian Jewish publication that he gives money to Oxfam.

Well, Adalah-New York is leading the heroic battle to boycott Leviev’s new store and force an American reckoning with the colonial projects we casually support, and they fastened on the Oxfam statement. Adalah wrote to Oxfam to say it should give the neocolonialist money back.

As Oxfam has acknowledged, all of

Israel

’s rapidly expanding settlements in the

Occupied

Palestinian

Territories

 contravene international law.…The five settlements in which Leviev has built homes seize vital Palestinian water resources and agricultural land, carving the

West Bank

 into disconnected enclaves and rendering the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible. 

Then Oxfam called Adalah to say that Leviev was not a supporter.

Adalah-NY confirmed yesterday with Oxfam America and Oxfam Great Britian that, contrary to reports in a number of print and on-line publications, Israeli billionaire and settlement-builder Lev Leviev is not and has never been a donor to any of the Oxfam member organizations.

Adalah is "investigating." The Oxfam claim apparently showed up in mainstream publications, like Women’s Wear Daily.

Related posts:

  1. Israeli Press Shames Settlement Czar Leviev (Will American Press Shame Sarandon?)
  2. Boycotted Settlement Czar Somehow Gets Nose Into Dubai Tent
  3. Jewish Press Covers Anti-Settlement Angle that NYT Won’t Touch With a 10-Foot Pole
  4. Boycott of Settlement-Sponsor Leviev Is Getting Under His Thick Skin
  5. Now Unicef Shuns Leviev, Diamond Merchant/West Bank Colonizer

{ 17 comments }

1 Richard Witty January 15, 2008 at 1:24 pm

It would be lame for them to return the money.

It would make them a political organization, rather than a service organization.

2 eh? January 15, 2008 at 1:27 pm

i believe leviev's lie is called chutzpah.

3 eh? January 15, 2008 at 1:30 pm

richard witty what's the point in commenting on a post that you didn't even read?

4 Outraged Liberal January 15, 2008 at 2:45 pm

I'm beside myself. Look at what I found on this website.

I trust your as shocked as I am.

Hopefully Weiss will get to the bottom of this.

I believe this may be related to the jewish temple that LIEberman belongs to.

Can you imagine supporting someone for President that belongs to such a temple?

This is their Jewish value system
1. Commitment to God.
2. Commitment to the Jewish Community.
3. Commitment to the Jewish Family.
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education.
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence.
6. Adherence to the Jewish Work Ethic.
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect.
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness".
9. Pledge to Make the Fruits of All Developing and Acquired Skills Available to the Jewish Community.
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Jewish Institutions.
11. Pledge Allegiance to All Jewish Leadership Who Espouse and Embrace the Jewish Value System.
12. Personal Commitment to Embracement of the Jewish Value System.

See for yourself
http://www.tucc.org/black_value_system.html

5 outraged liberal January 15, 2008 at 2:56 pm

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly and Unapologetically Jewish… Our roots in the Jewish religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are A Hebrew people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother country, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of oppression, and the long night of anti-semitism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a jewish worship service and ministries which address the Jewish Community.

6 eh? January 15, 2008 at 3:03 pm

what are you shocked at, outraged? that those ideas are influencing our foreign policy?

7 Jennings January 15, 2008 at 4:52 pm

eh? I think you may have missed the person's intended point.

If you follow that link you'll be taken to Barack Obama's church's website and everything that is posted here with "Jewish" in it is actually "Black" or "African" or "Christian" on the church's website.

It would appear the commenter is trying to establish a comparison of sorts. Not sure exactly what.

Obama did respond to his Church's magazine naming Farrakhan person of the year:
"I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan. I assume that Trumpet Magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree."

8 Sami January 15, 2008 at 9:01 pm

here's another thing about Lev Leveiv. He's emigrating to the UK to avoid his Israeli tax bill. there's a lot of Israeli billionaires making their way to the UK, must be their new promised land? Brits should guard their politicians jelously or god help them they'll be slaves before dawn to the guys who fund Israel centric lobbies, much like our congress.

9 Citibank Customer January 15, 2008 at 10:52 pm

Don't worry Sami – soon we will all be slaves to the Gulf Arabs and the Chinese, if we aren't already.

10 Michael Blaine January 16, 2008 at 12:56 am

Phil:

I am pretty new to this website, and I must say I admire the way you so zealously post on topics related to Israel and America's relationship with it. Your energy is astounding.

I am also astounded by the frenzy your posts provoke. Few topics could boast such intense scrutiny as these, nor all the passion, desperation and venom displayed here. To the unfamiliar, it's shocking.

Not wanting to thrust myself into the maelstrom, I'll withhold my initial opinions.

Except for this one: Contrary to what a poster above has tried to assert, the principles of what is apparently Barack Obama's church in Chicago should not have the same impact as if they were held by a synagogue. It is patently obvious that the black experience of America and that community's current status have been fundamentally different from the Jewish experience of America and its current status, and thus the enumerated principles cannot be viewed in the same light.

Michael Blaine
http://www.rudelystamped.blogspot.com

11 Gene January 16, 2008 at 2:55 am

Michael Blane: "It is patently obvious that the black experience of America and that community's current status have been fundamentally different from the Jewish experience of America and its current status, and thus the enumerated principles cannot be viewed in the same light."

You seem to be saying that it's fine to think Jews will avoid racist remarks but, gee whiz, how can we hold blacks to the same standard?

12 MM January 16, 2008 at 11:56 am

Yeah Gene, I know the Jews are the world's pre-eminent victims, but perhaps you aren't aware that Jewish families weren't kidnapped, taken on a 3 month cruise in a floating shithouse, to be whipped and worked for their entire lives, families separated, rebellious men castrated and hanged, young women raped, over the course of 250 years. Might freshen up on your country's history before making assinine moral equivalencies.

13 Calypso January 16, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Perhaps the solution to Isr -Pal is to move all the Jews and Cubans in Flordia to Israel and give Flordia to the Palestines.

Or we could set up WASP only, Jews only, Arabs only countries…everyone would have to live in whatever they consider their ethnic homeland.

That just leaves the evangelicals..perhaps we could establish a colony on Mars for them.

14 Anonymous January 16, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Niqnaqing our sleepymondo…

The sarmatian is not the only one on fire:

Ron Paul on fire
http://niqnaq.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/the-ron-paul-moment-fox-wouldnt-screen/

Galloway on fire
http://niqnaq.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/galloway-vs-frum-bbc-newsnight-jan-8/

15 Gene January 16, 2008 at 8:46 pm

MM: "Might freshen up on your country's history before making assinine moral equivalencies."

Why don't you give the White House a call? Maybe you and George Bush could spend the afternoon talking about the "soft bigotry of low expectations." Of course, unlike you, even Bush understands that low expecations don't do blacks any favors.

16 Wizard January 18, 2008 at 8:23 am

Calypso "Or we could set up WASP only, Jews only, Arabs only countries…everyone would have to live in whatever they consider their ethnic homeland."

Have you ever been to New Cannan and Darien CT?

17 Charles Keating January 23, 2008 at 5:35 pm

No, but I lived in Skokie.

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