Israel's double standards in the diamond business

Israel's double standards in the diamond business

Israel's double standards in the diamond business

Since it is well known that a connection to war crimes is detrimental to business, the diamond sector has made a concerted effort to disassociate itself from Israel's violations of human rights, and has so far managed to elude inspection by oversight agencies. As. At a conference this week in Kinshasa, representatives of 75 nations involved in the UN-based Kimberly Process Certification Scheme were unable to agree on the export of blood diamonds from Zimbabwe.

Since it is well known that a connection to war crimes is detrimental to business, the diamond sector has made a concerted effort to disassociate itself from Israel's violations of human rights, and has so far managed to elude inspection by oversight agencies. As.

At a conference this week in Kinshasa, representatives of 75 nations involved in the UN-based Kimberly Process Certification Scheme were unable to agree on the export of blood diamonds from Zimbabwe. The biggest issue was Israel's expanding diamond exports, which get around the bans against Zimbabwean diamond exports related to human rights abuses.

These contradictory standards in the Kimberly Process regulations that enable the sale of blood-stained diamonds from Israel and Zimbabwe are exposed in a "Letter of the Month" that I authored and had published in the April issue of Retail Jeweler magazine (Letter, Retail Jeweler Magazine, April 2011).

The magazine was pulled from a major jewelry trade show in Switzerland after the letter "alarmed" several people in the diamond business ("Gemstone editor regrets boycott letter over 'The bloodstream diamonds'," The Jewish Chronicle, 7 April 2011).

Leaders in the Israeli diamond sector as well as entrenched interests took exception at the letter. Their answer, which appeared on the magazine's letters page in the May issue, showed how vulnerable the world's diamond market is to any suggestion that Israeli war crimes are connected to diamonds.

The three letters—signed by eight different organizations and six prominent figures in the international diamond industry—repeated the same theme concerns Israel's delegitimization. The primary problem, which is that Israel's exports of polished and cut diamonds are exempt from the human rights regulations governing exports of raw diamonds, was overlooked by the writers.

The public is now more likely to take the diamond industry's soft-centered portrayal of diamonds as a desirable thing at face value since they are worried about the products' ethical standing. I'm not sure whether Israel processes conflict-free diamonds.

The diamond trade in Israel funds war crimes

The Israeli diamond industry's head, Moti Ganz, said recently that "Americans still buy diamonds as a symbol of love as well as commitment" ("IDI plans its largest-ever appearance at JCK Las Vegas," Diamond World, May 17, 2011). The inhabitants of Gaza, who have been subjected to Israel's diamond-funded white phosphorous and flechette nail bombs, associate diamonds more with bloody fear, death, and destruction than with love and dedication.

In November 2010, Israeli political economist Shir Hever testified before the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, saying, "The Israeli diamond industry as entire contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military as well as security industries... every time someone coming from Israel buys exported diamonds and a portion of that money is spent on the Israeli military, so the financial connection is quite clear" ("Day 2, Part 1 of the London meeting, Russell Tribunal on Palestine," November 21, 2010).

The Kimberley Process (KP) regulations were implemented in 2003 with the intention of stopping the diamond trade from being used as a means of financing human rights abuses. Cut and polished diamonds are not included in the strict definition of conflict or blood diamonds under the Kimberly Process regulations. This disparity makes it possible for jewelers to declare cut and polished diamonds that are making money for the Israeli military that is being accused of war crimes to be conflict-free.

Therefore, blood diamonds that come from Israel really taint the whole market. This deception is made possible by the absence of a legal definition for conflict-free diamonds. Global Palestine Solidarity (GPS), a network of worldwide activists for Palestinian rights, has launched a public petition to Kimberley Process participants, pleading for the inclusion of polished and cut diamonds that finance human rights abuses in the definition of conflict diamonds. ("Stop Israel's blood diamond trade," accessed 1 June 2011) has asked for a reassessment.

Online merchants' censorship

Many of the biggest diamond sellers in the world have turned to censorship in order to keep up this image and avoid addressing inquiries on the source of their purportedly conflict-free gems.

The world's largest online retailer of diamonds is Blue Nile, a NASDAQ-listed corporation with its headquarters in Seattle. Diamonds supplied by the firm are "required to be conflict-free." Nonetheless, fans of the Blue Nile Facebook page have inquired many times throughout the last six months.The corporation has been accused of funding the Israeli military with the proceeds from the sale of diamonds manufactured in Israel, so how can it defend this claim that there is no conflict with the diamonds? concerning war crimes.

As a result, the business banned him from adding new threads or images on his wall on Facebook, blocking access to his profile for thousands of users as well as his ninety thousand admirers. Before November 5, 2010, throughout the course of four weeks, Blue Nile received several inquiries from individuals in Ireland and decided to completely prohibit all users of Irish IP addresses.

There are more instances of Blue Nile trying to sidestep the controversy surrounding Israel's blood diamonds.

Blue Nile submitted its annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2011 (available on the Blue Nile website as of June 21, 2011). The purpose of Blue Nile's annual report is to fully disclose all relevant information so that investors can make well-informed judgments on the risks to the company's future financial performance.

It is omitted from this legally required assessment of the firm's business performance that the company is selling diamonds made in Israel that were the subject of a worldwide campaign, despite the fact that the document cites sixteen pages of possible risk factors for the company. which makes an effort to group them. Diamonds of conflict or blood. It also makes no mention of the evasive measures the corporation used on its Facebook page to silence skeptics over the origin of its purportedly conflict-free diamonds.

Retailers are attempting to evade responsibility.

In the meanwhile, other merchants of diamonds have also tried to evade criticism for their participation in the diamond trade in Israel.

A number of those who had put a query on their Facebook wall inquiring whether any of them were like that have also been banned by Brilliant Earth, a significant online diamond retailer that markets its diamonds as "ethically sourced" and "conflict-free" during the course of the last six months. -Israel produces diamonds free of conflict.

Additionally, forty members of the 800-member American organization known as the Independent Jewelers Organization (IJO)—which represents "jewelers with the highest ethical standards”—travelled to Israel in April to purchase diamonds ("Pilot travels to Israel to acquire diamonds," Israeli diamond business website, May 1, 2011). Administrators of his Facebook page filtered the page and deleted any mention of his visit to Israel when fans questioned how he could defend purchasing diamonds in a nation charged with war crimes.

These are only a few of the challenges encountered by jewelers that market diamonds made in Israel as conflict-free gems and charge high prices for them. Although jewelers want to highlight their moral business practices, selling diamonds made in Israel contributes to the funding of a military dictatorship that is being held accountable for war crimes. Palestinian solidarity activists have enormous influence on the diamond industry locally, nationally, and internationally as a result of Israeli diamonds contaminating the world diamond market.

The biggest export from Israel

Diamonds make up between 25% and 33% of all exports from Israel, making them the country's most popular product. Diamond exports were valued at $19.4 billion in 2008, with a net value of almost $10 billion; this is much more than the gross value of exports of pharmaceuticals or electronics.

Israel's diamond business contributes 5% of the country's GDP and provides a crucial source of funding for the country's illegal settlements, occupation, and blockade of Gaza.

The Israeli government's finances are severely strained by Israel's ruthless oppression of the Palestinian people and its occupation of Palestinian territory. Israel spends more than 7% of its GDP, or over $16 billion, on military expenditures annually, according to US government figures (CIA World Factbook – Israel).

The $3 billion in annual US military funding is noteworthy, but the majority of the funds required to sustain all facets of Israeli hegemony must come from taxation in one way or another.

However, the value of Washington's assistance packages is dwarfed by the amount that American customers give to the Israeli economy by buying Israeli diamonds. Roughly half of all diamonds bought in the United States originate in Israel, according to the website for the Israeli diamond business ("The Israeli Diamond Industry – A Major Center of the Diamond World").

About 40% of Israel's diamond exports go to the US, making it the country's most significant export market. According to the Diamond World website on May 17, 2011, "IDI plans its largest-ever attendance at JCK Las Vegas," the net value of Israeli diamond exports to the US exceeded $5.8 billion in 2010.

Due to its geographic isolation from its natural markets in the Arab nations that surround it, Israel's economy is mostly reliant on exports of products and services to Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Israeli strategists have long understood that the Zionist mission in Palestine cannot be sustained without high-value, export-oriented businesses.will draw in the required foreign currency.

Israel vs Zimbabwe

Israel is susceptible and vulnerable to consumer rejection of Israeli diamonds due to its substantial dependence on the premium fashion product. Israel's capacity to draw in foreign direct investment, other economic sectors, and the Israeli stock market might all be significantly impacted by the collapse of the country's diamond industry.

The diamond business is well aware of how quickly any negative connection may destroy a brand image that took decades to build. Following Israel's pre-election assault on Gaza's beleaguered citizens in the winter of 2008–09, the UN Human Rights Council discovered evidence of war crimes and maybe crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel. The invasion on Gaza was partially funded by the $1 billion in income received by the Israeli diamond industry, which seems to be the rationale for calling Israeli diamonds "blood diamonds".

It is the duty of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) having observer status in the Kimberley Process (like Global Witness and others) to make sure that the diamond business does not misuse their assistance.

No non-governmental organization has brought up the subject of Israel's continuous participation in the Kimberley Process system, despite the country's well-documented violations of human rights. Instead, they mostly concentrate on diamond exports from Zimbabwe, where in 2008, after a violent seizure of the Marange diamond mines, government troops massacred over 200 people ("Zimbabwe: Ending Repression in the Marange Airport Diamond Fields," Human Rights, 26 June 2009).

Zimbabwe's diamond exports were 1,200 times less than Israel's in 2008. If non-governmental organizations persist in disregarding Israel's diamond-funded occupation, war crimes, siege, colonization, and ethnic cleansing of Palestine, they will no longer be regarded as trustworthy advocates for human rights.