"Lev Leviev is building Israeli settlements on Bil'in and Jayyous' land," the letter explained. “He is building in other villages around Jerusalem, like Har Homa and Maale Adumim, in violation of international law,” they wrote.
"Leviev is destroying the olive groves and farms that have sustained our villages for centuries, and is profiting from human rights abuses."
Adalah-NY and the Palestine Singing Troupe, two organizations that advocate human rights for Arabs, were protesting in front of the store during the opening, asking shoppers to boycott.
Meanwhile, a group of around fifty human rights activists sang parodies of Christmas Carols across from Leviev in their fifth protest on Saturday, waving Palestinian flags and holding up signs depicting Leviev's actions and their consequences.
""Then one cold November eve, Leviev came to town," they sang to the tune of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. ”He put a store here in New York, But we will shut him down!"
"We are asking people to boycott this store until Leviev stops the support of Israeli settlements," said Issa Mikel, a spokesperson for Adalah-NY.
Leviev not only builds and funds developments in at least four settlements, he also mines diamonds in partnership with Angola's corrupt regime, Mikel alleged.
Arab Americans are not the only ones joining the protest. Ethan Heitner, a Jewish New Yorker from an Israeli family, is one of the Adalah-NY organizers and an advocate for the end of the Israeli settlements.
"I'm here because I believe it is important for Jews and Arabs to live together and the settlements are one of the prime obstacles to a peaceful coexistence" he said.
Across the street from the protesters, two women held up signs that said, "Christians united for Israel" and "Jihad teaches to kill." A third woman, who appeared to be in her early sixties, was distributing flyers on the same block, depicting pictures of Palestinian militants teaching children how to fight.
“Protests against Leviev and the Lev Leviev Group of Companies are politically motivated," said a press statement issued by the Leviev and the LLG Companies.
They called the accusations "inaccurate in their charges against Leviev diamonds," and said, "They deliberately neglect their extensive humanitarian and philanthropic work." |
