Israel’s Billion-Dollar Diamond Business: What’s the Secret?
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‘You mine them, we sell them’. Despite having no diamond mines, Israel hosts the world's largest diamond exchange and ranks among the top five diamond exporters. Based in Tel Aviv's Diamond Exchange District, it trades billions in gems globally.
So how did this happen?
According to Australian geologist William Griffin, Israel may have untapped gem deposits. Yet, Israeli diamond tycoons prefer sourcing cheap raw diamonds from Africa rather than mining locally.
Probably one of the most prominent Israeli diamond barons is Dan Gertler, billionaire and grandson of Israel Diamond Exchange former President Moshe Schnitzer.
Having purchased his first diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997, Gertler was later able to secure exclusive rights to mine diamonds in the country.
10 August 2020, 13:41 GMT
The assassination of DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila, with whom Gertler struck that $20 million deal, put a damper on the Israeli gem tycoon’s plans, but only for a time.
By 2002, Gertler reached an accord with Kabila’s successor and son Joseph Kabila, helping the latter to curry favor with the United States.
In return, Gertler was able to procure gems from DRC state mining company, as well as expand his interests into the local copper and cobalt mining industries that employ child labor.
In 2017, the Trump administration sanctioned Gertler over allegations of corruption in his procurement of mining rights and contracts, which ostensibly deprived DRC of considerable revenues.
