More than a dozen human rights activists surprised an end of New York Fashion Week shindig hosted at the Madison Avenue diamond boutique of the notorious Israeli settlement builder Lev Leviev. Acting on an anonymous tip, activists from Adalah-NY gathered outside Leviev's store shortly after highly-coutured guests began arriving. Oscar de la Renta was rumored to be among fashion bigs attending. Well-coiffed fashionistas clutching champagne flutes nervously drew away from the second-floor window of the boutique upon noting the full-throated chanting of the activists. Two glitterati who arrived in a limo returned to their vehicle, joining others, and left after seeing the protesters, who bore signs decrying Leviev's construction of Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. One limo driver, after discharging his passengers who were escorted inside by Leviev's security men, gave the protestors an enthusiastic thumbs up before driving away.
Heard among the protesters' chants: "Fashionistas and socialites, Leviev denies human rights."
"It's a shame that high-profile designers would want to associate with a known human-rights abuser," said Adalah-NY's Alexis Stern. "Don't their PR people know how to search his name on the web?"
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