More investors abandoning Lev Leviev and Africa-Israel

Last month, the second-largest Dutch pension fund PFZW joined an already impressive group of investors that have divested from Africa-Israel. Africa-Israel is the target of an international boycott campaign by Palestine solidarity activists because of its involvement in the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The negative publicity around Africa-Israel's involvement in the settlements hit at the same time that the global financial crisis led to a depreciation of Africa-Israel's real estate assets and forced its owner, diamond mogul Lev Leviev, to sell 20 percent of his shares in the company. On 30 November, the Israeli business magazine Globes Online reported that the Israeli Bank Hapoalim, Leviev's largest creditor, made a provision of NIS 300 million ($78.8 million) for doubtful debt (debts a creditor does not expect to be paid off) related to Africa-Israel. In addition, Memorand Management Ltd., the private company owned by Leviev, owes Bank Hapoalim NIS 2 billion ($525.5 million).