January 18, 2008
Oxfam Looks to Clear Its Name in Donor Controversy
Oxfam is trying to clear its name after a human-rights organization and several blogs questioned its relationship with a controversial Jewish philanthropist, Lev Leviev. Spokespeople for Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam America have said the organization has not received contributions from Mr. Leviev, despite press reports.
According to magazine articles published last year, Mr. Leviev, an Israeli billionaire, has donated to Oxfam’s humanitarian efforts.
After the articles appeared, Adalah-NY, a human-rights group in New York, wrote a letter asking Oxfam not to accept money from Mr. Leviev.
Adalah and other advocacy groups have protested Mr. Leviev’s diamond business for supporting illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, among other things. A spokesperson for Mr. Leviev told The New York Post last month that the protests were “inaccurate.”
Once Oxfam cleared up the confusion, Adalah rescinded its request and thanked the group for its response.
What do you think? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.
— Ian Wilhelm
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Full disclosure: I’m unfamiliar with Lev Leviev.
That said, if we’re going to examine every nonprofit to ensure that every donor doesn’t support causes we feel are wrong, we’re gonna be in for a long night.
— Tom Durso | The 501(c) Files Jan 18, 11:54 AM #
The problem with Lev Leviev is not (just) his politics. It’s the fact that he is accused of extremely questionable business practices in his native Russia. In Israel many people believe that he is trying to buy his way into politics and supporting many social welfare causes in order to avoid prosecution. I think many organizations would not want to be tainted by that association.
— miriam Jan 18, 03:03 PM #
Well it seems Oxfam’s name is cleared, and the onus for this one is on Leviev for making a false claim — the website that claimed he made the Oxfam donation belongs to an organization of which Leviev is the president.
Leviev is clearly a serial international miscreant — he’s accused of all manner of nastiness in Angola, West Bank, and Burma, and his only defense is he was a victim of communism? That the protestors are ignoring all the nice things he does for people?
But the one who seems to come out smelling the worst here is Susan Sarandon — the New York Post splashes it gossip page twice with a claim that she, an experienced activist, ignored the picket against Leviev, and what’s her response?
“But Sarandon’s representative questioned whether the actress attending one Leviev event amounted to ‘ties,’ and added, ‘She has no ties to any jewelry company.’”
Apparently Sarandon considers paying no heed to Palestinian rights to be an acceptable option, and sees no reason to apologize for ignoring the demonstration. No wonder the right-wing Post is lapping it up; it more than smacks of selective morality & hypocrisy by a noted liberal activist.
— Noel Jan 19, 02:46 AM #
The important thing is that businessmen, like Mr. Leviov, engaged in activities contrary to international law, such as the building of Israeli settlements in Palestinian occupied territory, are beginning to feel what it might be like to be held accountable by the international community for their crimes.
— Neta Golan Jan 19, 03:44 AM #
It is important that international aid agencies are very careful where they receive donations. I commend Oxfam for its refusal to accept funds from Lev Leviev or anyone else that violates international law through the building of Israeli settlements on Occupied Territory.
— Riham Jan 19, 06:52 AM #
Lev Leviev is the personification of contemporary capitalism. He makes money off misery in the four corners of the earth, and he contributes money to those, like Chabad, whose ideology help the spread of misery.
— anticap Jan 19, 08:25 AM #
The Jerusalem Post says today that Leviev will be attending Davos this week. It says that one of the topics to be focused on this year is “feeding the hungry.” It’s good that Leviev will be there, because the separation fence Israel built and intends to make their border, and cuts off 95% of the Palestinian village Jayyous’ arable farmland from the rest of the village, was located 6KM away from the Green Line in order to enable the Leviev-built Jewish settlement of Zufim to expand to 11 times its current size, according to a Dec.2005 B’tselem-Bimkom report. As a result, Jayyous, a once prosperous farming village, fewer and fewer of whose farmers are allowed permits from their Israeli occupiers to work their lands, is now on aid from the World Food Programme, according to the Financial Times:
http://www.catdestroyshomes.org/article.php?id=528
“Fellow farmers in Jayyous, in the region known as the ‘garden’ of the northern West Bank, made a living selling their fruits and vegetables before the wall was built there in 2004. Up to half of the population of 3,500 people now get aid from organisations such as the World Food Programme.”
—
So clearly Leviev can teach everyone at Davos a thing or two about “feeding the hungry.”
— Leonard Jan 20, 01:05 PM #
It is long overdue that private businesspeople who engage in activities violating international human rights law begin to face some accountability.
— George Bisharat Jan 20, 01:36 PM #
One wonders how many of Mr. Leviev’s purported charitable contributions have in fact been invented by his public relations staff.
— Niomke Jan 20, 05:00 PM #
If Lev Leviev is welcome at Davos one can imagine the caliber of the rest of the attendees.
I’ve done some research on Leviev & he claims he donates $50 million per yr. to Jewish charity, which is approx. three-quarters of one percent (.65%) of his net worth, a miserably low number. It’s no wonder his PR flacks have to make up donations he’s given. BTW, the vast majority of his donations are to extremely right-wing Jewish causes like Chabad. His wealth was earned from diamond mines in Angola & Russia & lately from building settlement communities over the Green Line.
Shame on Susan Sarandon & Isabella Rosselini for patronizing his diamond business.
— Richard Silverstein Jan 20, 09:16 PM #
Correction: that should have read “two-thirds of one percent”
— Richard Silverstein Jan 20, 09:18 PM #
Uh, actually Chabad is an ultra-orthodox group that has two main objectives – to increase the number of observant Jews (and who therefore “missionize” secular Jews), and to proclaim their late founder Menachem Mendelsohn Schneerson as the messiah, which he was always cagey about. While they may support some settlements in the West Bank, it’s really not their main area of business.
Also, everyone seems to think that international law regarding the West Bank is some settled issue (no pun intended). It’s not. The Israelis captured it from the Jordanians, who had illegally annexed it (to widespread international yawning). It wasn’t taken from an entity known as “Palestine,” since no such entity existed in 1967 (nor, indeed, does one exist now, or at least not one with standing in international law). In order for it to be someone else’s territory, the Arabs have to backtrack on their refusal to accept the 1947 UN partition, which they haven’t exactly been eager to do. If the Israelis accept the partition and no one else does, and those others go to war to prevent it from happening, and annex the land that then end up occupying, then pointing at the partition and saying that the Israelis are occupying someone else’s land becomes problematic, at best. It’s a little late for a do-over of 1947.
As for the wall, it is a de facto border between Israel and whatever is on the other side (presumably a future Palestinian state, although if Gaza is any indication, there may be two or more). The Palestinians had all of the 1990s to negotiate where that barrier would be, but declined to do so. They were offered most of their stated demands for land, but rejected it, made no counter demands, and started a terrorist campaign. The Israelis went back with even more, offering to make up the difference in area by offering Arab majority areas in the Galilee, in places that are undisputed areas, and that still wasn’t enough, and the terrorism continued. Since the wall was built, terrorism has dropped to near zero. It’s pretty shabby for us to stand in judgment of Israeli actions when we have so little riding on the outcome and they are literally betting their lives. And it’s naive to think that the Palestinians and other Arabs can lose every war, most of which they started, and somehow be exempt from the consequences of losing. Once the fighting starts, the relative justice of peoples’ claims go out the window – which is why it’s such a bad way to settle these things – but we can’t unspill that milk.
— Bif Jan 22, 02:33 PM #
hi Bif (or should I say, Edelman, the PR firm Leviev hired for damage control). When you say it’s shabby for “us” to be standing in judgement of Israeli actions – what “us” are you talking about? At least two Israelis have already posted on here are Israeli — and here’s two more for you. They’re from the Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace:
http://www.mideastjustice.org/images/file/Letter_to_Sarandon_from_Israel_Coalition_Women_Peace.pdf
In our work as Israeli activists, we have taken upon ourselves to investigate the corporate commercial interests invested in maintaining the occupation. Lev Leviev is the co- owner of Leader Management and Development, formerly Leader Company. This company has built the illegal settlement Zufin on the lands of the Palestinian village Ja’ayous. Another company in his control, Danya Cebus, has been constructing housing projects in various West Bank Israeli settlements. One such project is in Har Homa, the Israeli settlement whose further extension was recently blocked by Condoleezza Rice and described by her as “unhelpful to the peace process”.
Another construction project is in the neighborhood Matitiyahu East of the settlement Modi’in Illit, which appropriates lands from the neighboring Palestinian village Bil’in.
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that in both Bil’in and Jayyous, these new Israeli housing developments have extended the infamous Israeli Separation Wall up to the Palestinian villages, thus separating the villagers from their fields and livelihood. Even the Israeli High Court of Justice has ruled in favor of moving the route of the Wall near Bil’in.
We trust that you are aware of the illegality of all those settlements on occupied land by international law. Moreover, these housing developments are specifically designed to prevent the contiguity of Palestinian territory (as in Har Homa) and to push Palestinian residents into small enclaves (as in Mod’in Illit and Zufin).
We are inspired by the courage of the people of Ja’ayous and Bil’in who have led a nonviolent struggle against this construction for the last several years, inviting Israelis and internationals to join them, and suffering through extensive punishments from the Israeli army. As Israelis who work against the occupation, we admire their persistent vision of a just peace for us all.
Developers and investors who take part in maintaining the occupation and the settlement industry must be made publicly accountable for their actions. We ask you to join us in publicly disavowing Lev Leviev’s businesses until he withdraws his involvement in any such projects.
In solidarity,
Dalit Baum and Inna Michaeli
On behalf of the Coalition of Women for Peace
— Leonard Jan 22, 10:05 PM #
>> hi Bif (or should I say, Edelman, the PR firm Leviev hired for damage control)
What, I could be getting paid for this? Seriously, though, I don’t work for Edelman, and have never heard of company. It’s entirely possible to disagree with people without having sinister motives.
>> what “us” are you talking about?
The “us” was my assumption that all of the posters were American – cheerfully withdrawn!
>> We trust that you are aware of the illegality of all those settlements on occupied land by international law.
Uh, please read my post again – I was explicitly stating that the status is in dispute. As for things like Condy Rice calling it illegal, that doesn’t make it illegal – nor do UN Gen. Assembly resolutions, US presidential pronouncements or many other things that get touted as “proof” of the illegality. International law isn’t formed at State Dept press conferences. The West Bank was part of a unitary Mandatory Palestine before WWII, and only one side accepted partition in 1947 – it’s not hard to see how it can still be considered one country (and in the minds of both Israelis and Palestinians, it usually is).
As for the individual cases of hardship endured by Palestinians because of the wall, I have no doubt that they are suffering. Again, however, they had every opportunity to negotiate where the border would be, and passed up the chance.
Re: your invitation to join you, no thank you. When I lived in Israel (pre-Oslo), I traveled throughout the West Bank and talked to the Palestinians there – they all said the same thing – that all they wanted was peace, the West Bank and Gaza. Well, that sure seemed reasonable enough, and I supported them in that, for my part. Instead they push for a Jew-free West Bank, and full right of return for every decendent of anyone that lived within the Green Line in 1948 (effectively asking for everything). What, no Jews in Hebron, but extra Arabs in Acre? Looking at their negotiating positions, you would think that they had won a great victory, rather than losing just about everytime.
During the 1990s, we saw literally dozens of countries born – 15 from the USSR, a half dozen from Yugoslavia, a peaceful split in Czechoslovakia, East Timor, and perhaps most remarkably, Eritrea (30 years of fighting, and they never took aid from the US or the USSR). Getting a country is hard, but it’s not hard to figure out how, especially when you have the world’s only superpower going out of its way to get you what you want (or claim to want when the western press is around). The Palestinians were offered a country and turned it down, plain and simple. There’s nothing magical about them – they don’t deserve a country any more than the people in the countries mentioned above, nor do they deserve it any more than the Kurds, the Basques, or the Ajehnese. They choose terrible and inept leaders, and then ask for international sympathy when their leaders fail them. They cheer for the 9/11 hijackers, but want the US to deliver Israeli concessions to them. They create heroes of their suicide “martyrs” and elect Hamas, but they want the world to think that they are ready to run a peaceful country. How much more can Israel offer the Palestinians that they haven’t already refused to accept? How many do-overs are they supposed to be offered? How many times must they fight, kill innocent people, lose, and then try to whistle past the graveyard, pretending that nothing happened?
— Bif Jan 23, 11:58 AM #