Support this campaign by the Australian Friends of Palestine Association
Ensure your voice is heard for an ethical, responsible, diamond trade, free from the stain of Israel’s blood diamonds and human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.
Learn more about this campaign and then email the Australian Foreign Minister today.
Israel is one of the world’s leading producers of cut and polished diamonds. It imports rough diamonds, increases their value by cutting and polishing, and then exports them globally via hubs in London, Antwerp, Hong Kong, New York and Mumbai.
Diamonds are Israel’s top trading commodity, accounting for up to 30% of Israel’s exports and some 12% of Israel’s imports over the past decade.
Every year, consumers the world over unwittingly spend billions of dollars on diamonds crafted in Israel, thereby helping to fund one of the world’s most protracted and contentious conflicts.
Most people are unaware that Israel is one of the world’s leading producers of cut and polished diamonds. As diamonds are normally not hallmarked, consumers cannot distinguish an Israeli diamond from one crafted in India, Belgium, South Africa or elsewhere. Thus consumers do not realise that diamonds sold in jewellers worldwide are bankrolling Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories (West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip):
“Overall the Israeli diamond industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military and security industries… every time somebody buys a diamond that was exported from Israel some of that money ends up in the Israeli military.” – Evidence given by Israeli economist Shir Hever, Russell Tribunal, November 2010.
