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Who
rules Israel, to now
ABCD
New
York - On 31 August 2009, Lev
Leviev (above), the sixth richest Israeli 
, announced that his company 'Africa Israel' will be unable to meet its financial obligations and repay its debts on time. Leviev’s debt is estimated at nearly Euro 1.4
billion.
Leviev originally made his fortune in the diamond industry. Now, 'Africa Israel' is the flagship of his business
empire. The company is well known for its widespread real-estate
investments, but also for the fact that it builds in Israeli
colonies in the West Bank and dispossesses Palestinians from their
lands. As a result of these construction projects, Leviev’s business empire came under a worldwide boycott
campaign. Demonstrations took place in New York
City. UNICEF refused a donation from him, saying “We are aware of the controversy surrounding Mr. Leviev because of his reported involvement in construction work in the occupied Palestinian
territory.” The UK embassy in Tel Aviv decided not to buy its office from
'Africa Israel' while on 23 August 2009, it was revealed that Blackrock Inc., a large British investment firm, decided to divest from
'Africa Israel'. Eight days later, Leviev convened the press conference in which he announced his inability to repay his
debts. It is,
however, unrealistic to assume that the massive losses of
'Africa Israel' result solely from the boycott. The primary reason for debt is the depreciation of real-estate assets, which the company bought at tremendous leveraging. The international capitalist crisis impacted the value of the company’s assets, making the huge company seem like a sinkhole of
debt. 'Africa-Israel' bought its three most expensive properties in the US just before the credit crisis came knocking at the door.
The US real estate market is not 'Africa-Israel's only
problem. Heavy investments in Moscow are also costing the company
dearly. It is too early to say what the consequences of Leviev’s fall could
be. His creditors are mostly Israelis, and many were invested in his companies through their pension
funds. The fall could be painful for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Israelis.
The 'big six' Israeli tycoons include, according to
the latest census, Eliezer
Fishman (2nd from above)
with debts estimated at Euro 4.2 billion, Israel Corp of the Ofer
family (Sammy Ofer 3rd from above), with debts worth Euro 7.5 billion, Delek Group of Yitzhak
Tshuva (4th from above) , with debts amounting to about Euro 8.1 billion, I.D.B of Nochi
Dankner (5th from above) , with debts estimated at Euro 14.9 billion,
and Haim Saban (6th from above) .
'Africa Israel' has the least amount of debt amongst these tycoons, but was the first to
fall. The other Israeli tycoons are not subject to widespread boycott campaigns, and are so far able to obtain sufficient credit from investors to keep doing
business.
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