
Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev is a man about town. After all the diamond merchant has Hollywood’s top stars from Kate Hudson to Gina Gershon (okay, so maybe not Hollywood’s top stars, but still starts to varying degress) wearing his diamond collection in the new photo-book by Oxfam to raise money titled Hollywood Pinups.
But what Lev Leviev does not tell you is that he has been condemned by Oxfam International for his ownership and promotion of illicitly diamonds. For instance, Angolan security companies employed by Leviev were accused of torture, sexual abuse and even murdering Angolans.
Both Oxfam and UNICEF have stopped their work with Leviev after his “blood diamonds” were reveled. They no longer accept donations from him and, even though Liviev has continued to present himself as a do-gooder by claiming to work with both organizations, both Oxfam and UNICEF bar the use of their logo by Leviev in any capacity.
Besides his abuse of workers in his Angolan mines, Leviev has also recently fired 222 striking diamond polishers in a Namibia compound. Leviev has also funded the building of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Additionally, his planned erection of up-scale Manhattan and Brooklyn apartments will push out low and middle-class persons from the proposed construction site.
Although a lot of stars initially made friends with Leviev (including Susan Saradan who attended the opening of his New York diamond gallery and appears in his most recent book, though she writes the forward, she does not sport any of his diamonds), some stars are starting to keep their distance. Leviev’s tries to pretend that his effort are supported by Oxfam given that they used his diamonds. But this was after the fact that revelations came forward about his true dealings. Additionally, stars are starting to see that he is nothing more than a phony who only pretends to care about human rights and international law.
Oxfam stated: “At some point in the process, Leviev Diamonds offered to provide diamonds for some of the photo shoots, but Oxfam was not aware of this. Just a few weeks ago, Adalah-NY tipped us off to the fact that Leviev Diamonds were promoting their inclusion in the book and using this to claim to be Oxfam supporters ... Oxfam reiterates our policy that we are not and never will be partners or beneficiaries of Leviev because of both his mining practices and his support of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands which is in contravention of international law and a major obstacle in the road to peace ... Oxfam is disturbed to find ourselves used in this way and we intend to be proactive in informing those in our community about the deliberate strategy of Leviev Diamonds to connect itself with unwitting charities and celebrities.”
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