Worthless rocks create terrible myths, and bloody genocide.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/blood-diamonds-israel-gaza-genocide/290592/

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Unlike gold, diamonds are rarely hallmarked, meaning that few American brides know that their engagement and wedding rings were crafted and polished in Israel. Even fewer are aware that their purchase directly funds the slaughter in Gaza and Israel’s ongoing seizure of land in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.

“Overall, the Israeli diamond industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military and security industries … every time somebody buys a diamond that was exported from Israel, some of that money ends up in the Israeli military,” Israeli economist, Shir Hever, testified at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in 2010.

Perhaps the key figure in the Israeli diamond industry is business magnate, Beny Steinmetz. Considered by many to be Israel’s richest man, the 69-year-old founder of Steinmetz Diamond Group first entered the industry in 1988, purchasing a production factory in Apartheid South Africa.

Through his charitable foundation, Steinmetz has poured money into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), including “adopting” a unit of the Givati Brigade, buying equipment for them. During Operation Cast Lead in 2009, the brigade carried out a massacre, forcing dozens of Palestinian civilians into a house in Gaza, bombed the house, and prevented ambulances from approaching. Rescue workers who eventually found their bodies also reported seeing the words “The only good Arab is a dead Arab” daubed in Hebrew on the remains of the building.

 

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The diamond industry sustains itself through a number of myths, the first of which is that they are rare minerals. They are not. In the late 19th century, massive diamond deposits were found in South Africa, flooding the global market. However, the businessmen operating the mines quickly realized that only by maintaining strict control over the supply of the commodity could high prices be maintained. Today, well over 100 million carats of diamonds are unearthed annually, enough to produce hundreds of millions of pendants, rings, and earrings.

Nor are diamonds inherently precious. Thanks to their extreme hardness, they are useful to toolmakers producing saw blades and drill bits. Beyond this, however, their value is limited. And, contrary to popular belief, they are not intrinsically connected to courtship, marriage, or anniversaries in Western culture. In fact, the link in popular culture between diamonds and love is the result of a marketing campaign. The phrase “diamonds are forever” is, in reality, a marketing catchphrase devised by Madison Avenue executives in 1947. Professor Sut Jhally, producer of the documentary, “The Diamond Empire,” describes “diamonds are forever” as “perhaps the most famous advertising slogan ever invented.” “That slogan, that idea that comes out of Madison Avenue, now defines the way that we think about rituals that define our most personal activities, marriage, and courtship,” he added.