Israeli's Diamonds Are Dubai's Best Friend as Profit Trumps Emirate Policy

I loved how [LocalnewsUAE] titled the arabic version of this article to "To Dhahi Khalfan, with a salute: Israeli Leviev shops to expand in Dubai" especially after his remark of not allowing Israelis from entering the country even if they had a dual nationality.

Some highlights about the article. For more read [bloomberg]

The name of the store’s owner appears only on catalogues and gift bags: Israeli billionaire diamond investor lev leviev, who has four other outlets in the emirate under the Levant name.

He is expanding just as Dubai vows to crack down on links with Israel after the January murder of a senior Hamas official that local police blamed on Israeli agents. Separately, companies in the emirate import high-value polished diamonds from Tel Aviv for sale to Gulf neighbors in defiance of a boycott of Israeli goods by Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates to which Dubai belongs.

he diamond trade is too self-contained to allow Dubai to boycott Israel, said Yitzhak Gal, chief executive officer of Rosh Ha’ayin, Israel-based Gulf Links, which aids Israeli companies operating in the Gulf. “If you are a large player, you can’t be left out.”