Jews Against the
Occupation/NYC (JATO), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Israeli Committee
Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
For Immediate
Release
US and Israeli Jews Support UNICEF's Decision to
Cut Ties to Leviev
Call on Anti-Defamation
League to Reject Donations from Human Rights
Violators
June 25, 2008 – New York City - Jews Against the
Occupation/NYC, Jewish
Voice for Peace and the Israeli Committee
Against House Demolitions fully support
UNICEF's decision to reject funds from sources it does not regard as partners in
the worthy endeavor of protecting and nurturing the world's children. Lev
Leviev's ongoing and direct support for settlement building and land
expropriation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories constitutes an explicit
violation of Palestinians' human rights, undermines Palestinian families'
livelihoods and thus threatens any viable and peaceful future for both
Palestinian and Israeli children. Lev Leviev is no partner for UNICEF.
Indeed, all those who support children and families and their fundamental right
to security should reject Leviev for his direct involvement in crimes against
Palestinians.
We are disturbed to see today's call by the Anti-Defamation
League for UNICEF to resume a financial relationship with Lev Leviev. We hope
that UNICEF will continue to reject funding from untoward sources and strongly
disagree with the ADL's accusation that UNICEF is discriminatory. We challenge
the ADL to defend Leviev's business dealings (settlement growth, land
expropriation) as actions that improve the lives of all children. UNICEF's
decision to cease accepting money from the man responsible for the construction
of illegal Israeli settlements on the land of villages under military occupation
in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is nothing less than an assertion that human
rights and international law are universal. As an organization which touts its
commitment to securing "justice and fair treatment to all", the ADL should know
better than to call for an exception to be made for Mr. Leviev.
Leviev, one
of the richest men in Israel, has a long history of involvement in human rights
abuses. He made his fortune doing business with the diamond mines of
apartheid-era South Africa(1), and
has continued his involvement with this bloodiest of trades in partnership with
the Angolan government, which is presently attempting to expel the UN Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights so it can more easily fix an election(2). Leviev is a longtime funder
of the Land Redemption Fund(3), an
arm of the Israeli far right settlers' movement Gush Emunim, known for its use
of deceit and intimidation to illegally acquire the land of Palestinian
villages, as well as a settlement builder himself. His Danya Cebus
company has been active in Mattityahu East(4), Maale Adumim and Har Homa
settlements(5), while another
subsidiary, Leader, is building Zufim settlement(6). Residents of the villages
whose land is being stolen to build the first and last of these, Bil'in and
Jayyous, have reported new settlement expansion in process in the past
month.
UNICEF made its determination after several months of 'due
diligence' investigation of Leviev's business and political activities, in
response to concerns raised by human rights groups. Their research
included a formal visit to Palestinian villages whose land has been illegally
seized for Leviev's projects. These villages include Bil'in, where attacks
by Israeli soldiers on weekly nonviolent demonstrations against land theft have
injured over 1,000 people over the past three and a half years, including around
300 children, and Jayyous, which submitted the following statement to UNICEF (7) to make clear just how deep the
effects of Leviev's settlement building have been on the children of these
communities:
"More than 70% of
Jayyous' farmers are now denied access to their land, which in many cases
happens to be the very area where Leader plans to expand Zufim. As a
result, our once-prosperous farming village of 3,400 hundred souls, which once
provided food for 60,000 Palestinians, is now impoverished and dependent on
external food aid. 57% of Jayyous' families now depend on food aid... [while]
70% of families, are in great need of food aid, and this number is constantly
increasing.
Leviev's settlement
and Israel's wall have impoverished our village to such a degree that 103 out of
a total of 195 students in grades 7-12 were compelled to drop out of school.
[Students'] dreams of attending universities now seem impossible. In 2002,
before Israel began construction on the wall, 180 high school graduates from
Jayyous were enrolled in university studies. That number has now dropped to 50.
We understand that Leviev contributes to fundraising events in France
benefitting UNICEF programs to educate girls in Senegal. We ask why UNICEF, an
organization dedicated to improving the lives of children worldwide would accept
Leviev's support in educating Senegalese children while his companies are
destroying the lives of Palestinian children in places like Jayyous?"
Nowhere
in its statement does the ADL dispute UNICEF's findings in relation to Lev
Leviev. It merely claims that they should be overlooked, that looking at
this record is "arbitrary, unnecessary and discriminatory". The
organization's rush to leap to the defense of a documented violator of human
rights and international law would be laughable if it did not involve the lives
and livelihoods of entire communities. The ADL's insistence that an
exception be made for Lev Leviev - that Palestinians should not be considered
humans with rights worth respecting – is appalling. For it to do so for no
reason other than Leviev's Israeli citizenship and Jewish identity lends
ammunition to those who foment anti-Jewish
prejudice and violence by claiming that Jewish organizations care only
about defending 'their own'.
No organization which claims to speak for
justice can justify accepting financial support from those who violate human
rights. This applies no less to private NGOs like the ADL than to
international agencies like UNICEF. We call on the Anti-Defamation League
to live up to its charter and follow the lead of UNICEF and Oxfam (8) in severing any financial ties it
may have to Lev Leviev and his corporate arms, as well as his fellow violators
of international law and human rights.
(1)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16Leviev-t.html?pagewanted=2&sq=leviev&st=nyt&scp=1
(2)
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/05/23/angola18934.htm
(3)
http://www.peacenow.org/hot.asp?cid=247
(4)
http://mondediplo.com/2006/08/04settlers
(5)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/891458.html
(6)
http://mondediplo.com/2006/08/04settlers;
http://adalahny.org/images/file/leviev-registrar.pdf
(7)
http://adalahny.org/index.php/letters-a-statements/17-letters/211-jayyous-leviev-unicef
(8)
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24554
