Politics Are No Joking Matter

The world is nervous and divided.  Everything seems to be colored with political tints.  Belgium's Diamond High Council expresses concern that American polished buyers might reduce their purchases in Antwerp in retaliation against the anti George Bush position of its government. Presumably, such concerns are premature and it would be better if they had not been expressed at all.  

The same counts for Israeli municipal politicians playing local politics by promising Belgium rough dealers tangible benefits for moving their business to Israel. The Ramat Gan mayor capitalized on the great resentment felt in Israel against the decisions of a Belgium court in respect to the Israeli Prime Minister. The Israeli diamond industry leadership responded rightly when bourse president Shmuel Schnitzer invited the mayor to give these benefits to the Israeli industry.  

As much as one may dislike such a Belgian court position - and I sure do - nobody has anything to gain from allowing these sentiments to affect the diamond trade. Intuitively one feels that there is something fundamentally wrong here. It is in the industry's best interests to show solidarity with each other and to keep politics where they belong.

It was less than a year ago that the Belgian parliament called for a general trade boycott of Israel in "punishment" of the government's policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians. The leaders of the Belgium diamond industry successfully petitioned their government and got the threat removed. They correctly realized that trade interruption would hurt both sides.  

With the war in Iraq still looming as apparently inevitable and without knowing how such hostilities will impact the international diamond industry, it may be useful to reflect that competition among the diamond centers is healthy and desirable - provided they are based on commercial merits.

Some people try to relieve the tension by searching for humor. There were wry jokes that the robbery of the vaults in Antwerp especially hurt those Israelis who had moved their goods to a safer place in advance of the war in Iraq.

Incidentally, such a robbery could have taken place anywhere. The lesser said - the better. Have a nice weekend.