Beware: Blood Diamonds Are Funding Israel’s War Crimes

Last week, the 2025 chair of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP), Ahmed Bin Sulayem, published an article extolling the scheme’s benefits. The integrity of his claims is questionable from the outset.
If, as claimed, the KP is “arguably the most successful attempt to govern the entire commodity supply chain,” then that “success” must be measured against the death toll in Gaza. Kimberley Process-certified diamonds have funded a genocide that has killed at least 70,000—and potentially 126,000 or more—defenseless, besieged, and deliberately starved Palestinian men, women, and children. For Gaza, the KP has been a weapon of mass annihilation.

The claim that the KP governs the entire diamond supply chain is grossly misleading. This claim forms the basis of a scam that legitimizes the trade in ‘blood diamonds’ outside the KP’s remit, which only bans rough diamonds funding rebel violence.
While the KP was created to address rebel-funded violence, the World Diamond Council (WDC) latched onto it to claim it solved problems across the entire supply chain. The WDC introduced the bogus System of Warranties to claim polished diamonds—unregulated by the KP—are conflict-free, even when they generate revenue funding genocide, as with diamonds processed in Israel.

The claim that the industry voluntarily adheres to OECD Guidance is also false. Compliance requires companies to refrain from actions financing conflict and to suspend engagement with suppliers linked to parties committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide.
Despite decades of Israeli conflict with Palestinians, not a single diamond company has recognized Israel as a “conflict-affected and high-risk area.” By turning a blind eye, they evade OECD compliance while falsely claiming adherence.

The article claims KP limitations are a “political mandate challenge” rather than a “structural design flaw.” This is misleading, as the definition of a “conflict diamond” was a designed choice supported by the WDC. As the WDC alluded, “It was the industry that provided the blueprint for the certification system.”

The KP is captured by the industry it is supposed to regulate. It is a system of self-regulation rubber-stamped by vested governments, each with a veto to block changes threatening their interests. KP member governments, guided by WDC recommendations, hold the only voting rights. The Civil Society Coalition is similarly influenced by their government and WDC paymasters who sponsor their participation.