A pro-Palestinian lobby asked a British charity to refuse donations by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
The New York-based Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, also known as Adalah, wrote to Oxfam International this month demanding that it stop accepting charitable contributions from Leviev, a diamond and construction magnate who is in the process of relocating from Israel to Great Britain.
The lobby noted the role played by Leviev’s firm Africa Israel in the construction of West Bank settlements, as well as his part ownership of the Israeli fuel company Dor Alon, which recently scaled back supplies to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip under orders from the Olmert government.
Oxfam, the lobby wrote, should “publicly distance themselves from Leviev until he reforms.”
The charity had no immediate response. Founded to provide humanitarian relief to disaster zones, Oxfam has come out frequently against Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.
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