How the global jewellery industry is funding Israeli crimes

Sean Clinton

Revenue from the diamond industry is estimated to generate about $1bn/yr in funding for the Israeli military. Despite the many grievous human rights violations committed by Israel the jewellery industry continues to deceive consumers by claiming diamonds from Israel are conflict-free.

The Zionist project in Palestine has prevailed, and can only be sustained, by the violent denial of the human rights and democratic will of the Palestinian people. Sustaining the Zionist reign of terror places a heavy burden on the Israeli economy – the primary source of the revenue needed to sustain the project.

The Israeli government recently approved a military budget of NIS 60bn ($15bn) for 2016. This money has to be extracted from the Israeli economy in taxes of one form or another. The US presently gives Israel an additional $3bn per year in military aid and that figure looks likely to increase to $4.5bn/yr in 2018. Efforts to pressure Israel to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people are undermined by the US and the EU which shelter Israel from economic, political and military sanctions.

The international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanction gives civil society the means to surmount the political firewalls that protect the regime. BDS has the potential to impose an economic toll that can significantly change the political and economic cost benefit of the Zionist project.

In order to help bring about the changes needed to shift the political scales in favour of justice and peace the boycott campaign needs to impact vulnerable sectors of the Israeli economy that can have significant economic consequences.

Israel imports more goods than it exports. Goods that bring in large amounts of foreign currency are critically important to the economy and the regimes ability to provide the social services the electorate demand while at the same time maintaining the matrix of military control needed to brutally subjugate the Palestinian population.

Some sectors of the Israeli economy are much more vulnerable to boycott and divestment than others. In terms of importance and vulnerability the diamond industry stands out.

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