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Alert: - Picket Sotheby's Jewel Auction - Sotheby's Steinmetz Blood Diamonds Fund Massacre in Gaza

inminds
9 July 2013

On 11th July 2013 we will picket Sotheby's Fine Jewels Auction in London, in protest of their partnership with the Steinmetz Diamond Group to form Sotheby's Diamonds. The Steinmetz company have adopted the Givati Brigade of the Israeli military which has been accused of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by the UN Human Rights Council. The Givati Brigade is responsible, in particular, for the massacre of the Samouni family of Gaza.

During Operation Cast Lead in January 2009, the Israeli army's Givati Brigade rounded up 100 members of the Samouni family, and ordered them into the house of Wa’el Samouni. The house was then bombed, and the ruined building cordoned off for four days during which time rescue services were prevented from approaching, with ambulances being shot at. When rescue workers were finally allowed into the ruins, they found 29 bodies, and traumatised children under the rubble with dead family members. They also found daubed on the walls racist graffiti in Hebrew which read "The only good Arab is a dead Arab".

The Steinmetz Company supports the Givati Brigade through charitable donations. Their foundation on its website* claims to "fosters a close relationship with the commanders and their soldiers" and "during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip the foundation helped the unit buy complementary equipment" and "visited and cared for the soldiers".

The surviving members of the Samouni family in a video appeal from Gaza have asked people in the UK to reject diamonds from the Steinmetz company.

Sotheby's through its partnership with Steinmetz is directly linked to Israeli war crimes in Gaza. We will be protesting outside Sotheby's to demand they immediately end their partnership with Steinmetz and and make reparations for it’s role in helping to fund Israeli war criminals.

Join us on Thursday 11th July 2013 outside Sotheby's in London, 34-35 New Bond Street W1A 2AA (closest tube station is Oxford Circus) at 1:30pm

Protest outside Sotheby's
34-35 New Bond Street, London W1A 2AA
Thu 11th July 1:30pm

Futher Information:

• Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/191343724359370/
  
• Photo-report of previous protest: Sotheby's Diamonds accused of funding massacre in Gaza
  
• Article: Are Sotheby's Steinmetz diamonds blood diamonds?

*Once the information about their funding of Israeli soldiers during Operation Cast Lead came to public attention last year the company deleted all reference to it from their website in an attempt to conceal their complicity in war crimes - but not before screen shots of the original webpages were circulated on the internet.

Leaflet (front)

Leaflet (back)

Source: www.inminds.com

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