Academy says not responsible for stars wearing diamonds tainted by Leviev's rights abuses

A representative for the Academy Awards said today
that the Academy has nothing to do with whether stars
at the Oscars wear jewelry provided by Lev Leviev, the
controversial Israeli settlement builder and diamond
mogul who has been accused of supporting human
rights abuses in Angola, New York City and Palestine.
Leviev is lending his jewelry to some attendees of the
80th annual Academy Awards this Sunday, according
to Warner Brothers' ExtraTV. Leviev's controversial
loan of jewelry to the stars for the Oscars is making
waves in Israel, with coverage by Maariv on-line,
the news site for Israel's second largest newspaper.

An Adalah-NY representative spoke by phone
today with Leslie Unger, Director of Communications
at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in Beverly Hills, who said that, "We don't have anything
to do with the jewelry or fashions our presenters or guests
choose to wear." When pressed Unger said she had no
comment on the likelihood that jewelry tainted by
Leviev's rights abuses would be worn at the Oscars.

The annual Hollywood ceremony had been jeopardized
by a protracted strike of the Writers Guild, over
revenue generated by writers' online work. Ironically,
Leviev has also been at the center of labor disputes in
New York City involving unpaid wages. New York
construction workers sued Leviev and his former
US partner Shaya Bolmelgreen over withheld wages,
and, according to the Laborers Union, have complained
of dangerous work conditions, allegedly resulting in
accidents and serious injuries.

Sadly, just one year after the film Blood Diamond
was nominated for five Oscars, there is a chance that
tainted Angolan diamonds that bypass the Kimberley
Process which aims to eliminate trade in
"conflict diamonds" will be worn by stars at the Academy
Awards. According to the 2007 "Diamond Industry
Annual Review" for Angola by the watchdog organization
Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), "the Angolan
Kimberley System has no way of tracking" around
10% of Angola's "diamonds back to source." As a result,
there are "more than a million carats per year exiting
Angola… with the murkiest credentials." The company
Ascorp, which buys these diamonds and which Leviev
co-owns, is directly involved in these failings.
Furthermore, private security companies employed by
Leviev in the mining districts in northeast Angola have
been accused by Angolan human rights monitor Rafael
Marques of "humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse,
and, in some cases, assassinations." Leviev has close ties
with Angola's repressive and corrupt Dos Santos regime
which has failed to hold elections since 1992.

Leviev's companies have also built homes in five
Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank in violation of international law.
The settlements that Leviev has built seize vital resources
and divide Palestinian territories into isolated enclaves,
destroying hopes for the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

Leviev became involved in a flap with the international
charity Oxfam after the New York human rights coalition
Adalah-NY contacted Oxfam on January 8 following
media reports that Oxfam had accepted support from
Leviev. In response, Oxfam stated publicly that Leviev
had never been an Oxfam donor, nor would they accept
donations from any individual who constructs settlements
in occupied territory in contravention of international
humanitarian law. Twenty days after Adalah-NY raised
the issue, an article which claimed that Leviev donated to
Oxfam was finally removed from the news site belonging
to an organization of which Leviev is the president.

After attending the gala opening of Leviev's first US
jewelry store in Manhattan, actress Susan Sarandon
was approached by Israeli, Palestinian and US human
rights organizations urging her to cut ties with the
billionaire. An open letter sent to Sarandon from the
US-based Jewish Voice for Peace noted Leviev's
alleged misdeeds in Angola, Burma, New York, and the
Occupied Palestinian Territories saying: "Leviev's strong
support of the settlements seriously compromises any
efforts at a just peace in the region. His efforts to
expropriate more lands from Palestinians, using both
financial and strong-arm tactics, greatly increase
Palestinian suffering. . . As Jews who yearn and work
for a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis, we implore
you to take a public stand against Leviev."