however, unlike gertler, leviev was not born into one of israel's diamond families.in 1956, levier was born to poor jewish family in uzbekistan and moved to... israel when he was teenager. when he left school, he began an apprenticeship learning to cut and polish stones. levierv soon worked his way into the business of polishing rough diamonds. at that time, the deberers cartel owned by the south african oppenheimer family had a monopoly on diamond production. in fact, it was only with the assistance of the bears that israel's diamond industry came into existence, but leviev was keen to break the... bears monopoly on the world diamond trade. by the 1990s, he'd made successful moves in russia and angola, both of which have large diamond mines, sourcing rough diamonds directly and without interference from the bears. therefore, in addition to becoming billionaire through his activities, leviyev was instrumental in bolstering israel's diamond industry, which has now become a rival to the debeas cartel. leviyev has also used his. personal wealth to fund the ultrasignist