A member of the Israel Business Leaders Delegation confronts protesters (Photo: Bud Korotzer)
From a Friday, December 4 Adalah-NY press release:
New York City human rights advocates caught the Israel Business Leaders Delegation to the United States by surprise this morning with a noisy protest outside their “breakfast reception amidst the Leviev jewelry collection” at the Leviev store on Madison Avenue. Groups worldwide have conducted a successful campaign for the 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.
In addition to businesspeople, among the guests present at the breakfast was TV personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer who tried unsuccessfully to avoid notice as she left. 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.
I attended the protest as well. I think the release sums it up well. The broader point is the incredible level of access this Israeli delegation had to business and government leaders like AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, Loews President James Tisch, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and the thin line between these figures and someone involved in settlement construction like Lev Leviev. It should be noted that James Tisch’s name has come up on this site before as a donor to the Central Fund for Israel, which also supports the settlers.
On a side note, it was entertaining to see Dr. Ruth get wisked away into a waiting limo (and them come back after she forgot her purse). The blurry photo to the right is the only one I got.
