Third Chapter: Situation in Israel- Actual facts

Actual situation based on data received from Isha Le Isha Feminist Center Haifa and data collected by Machon Toda`a - Awareness Center.

Israel is a destination country for women trafficked for prostitution but during 2004 the number of trafficked women to Israel has drastically diminished. The official numbers of women trafficked for prostitution purposes per year are not known as of yet.

Until the beginning of 2002 trafficked women for prostitution purposes were trafficked to Israel through legal ports (airports and seaports) as well as through illegal ones. Since 2002 the main passage of most trafficked people, both women trafficked for prostitution purposes and foreign workers, is the Egyptian border. Since the issue of trafficking through the Egyptian border became a serious one it has been decided to give the responsibility of this area to a special unit called "Magav Ramon- Ugda 80" (Border- Guard).

During 2004 Magav Ramon stopped 43 women that tried passing the border.

Since, during 2004 the police and Magav Ramon unit have done their utmost to stop trafficking through the Egyptian border there are voices that demand the legalization of the trade. For example a known Strip club in the diamond exchange district requests a permit to "legally import" for strippers. Part of the "desire" industry scene in Israel as in other countries are the strip clubs. For many years these clubs are functioning and only end of March 2005 one of these clubs issued a request to the Ministry of Industry and trade to allow the import of Ukranian and Brazilian strippers since there are special schools for stripping in these countries. The request is stating that the club has a license as a business and according to Israeli law an employer can request a special import request for special workers when there are not enough Israeli workers in the field. He intends to go with this request to the Supreme-Court if the Trade Ministry refuses [8].

The owner of the strip club defends his establishment saying that what he sells is only a fantasy. Pornography, according to many, is also only a fantasy. Unfortunately the pornography industry is using high technologies as the World Wide Web, file sharing networks and cellular networks to work the minds of its viewers [9]. Many are becoming addicted to erotic sites where they can view porno clips and more. Super-Intendant Meir Zohar is head of a police section that fights cyber-crime. He and his team are aware of the hundreds or more porn and kidi-porn addicted viewers who roam the chat-rooms and form files sharing rings. Those predators are very harmful and unfortunately their harm extends beyond the virtual world.

Pornography and prostitution go hand in hand. Many of the "sex buyers" request in the brothels, discrete apartments or escort services to watch porn movies. The prostituted persons cannot object to the client`s demands. Watching porno movies usually turn the customer into a violent beast, so much so that in several discrete apartments the watching of porno movies is not allowed. The mainstream public's opinion is that prostitution and pornography will (and perhaps should) forever exist in a civilized society. The whole approach of accepting the phenomenon of prostitution and pornography has consequences on the whole society, and since both legislators and General Attorney office (as other official representatives) are part of the Israeli society - it affects their approach of the issues.

There is a dichotomy in the actual directives of the General Attorney explaining the way the Police should handle trafficked foreign women as opposed to local women. Since the law enforcers are also part of the Israeli society, as citizens and opinion holders, the directives are interpreted by many police members who do not understand the problems with the phenomenon of prostitution and pornography their interpretation of the directives leads to a disparity in handling the issue as though Trafficking is a felony but the prostituted persons are not victims.

Machon Toda`a received a testimony regarding an incident, where Police officers, who were called to a discrete apartment because of the violent behavior of a "buyer" instead of arresting the "buyer" they started interrogating the prostituted person if she has delivered the goods. By doing so the police has taken the role of a pimp.

Another sad development which is due to the fact that police is now circulating the brothels and the discreet apartments looking for Victims of Trafficking is the development of this sector into a seemingly authorized business. In many discrete apartments the prostituted women are obliged to forge receipts from "sex buyers" and are obliged to receive forged salary statements. When police accompanied by the tax persons arrive they check the IDs of the prostituted women and if they are Israeli their name is automatically checked in the files of the Social Security Institute. If they are found as persons receiving allowance, which is quite often the case, they are obliged to pay back the allowance they received and are summoned to the income tax offices for a declaration of assets. This practice is going on for several months and no one is doing anything to prevent such treatment. If they are Israeli they are not victims, right? More, the head of the Tax section in the Ministry of Finance , Mr. Eitan Rov, boasted during one of the meetings of the Parliamentary Investigation committee regarding trafficking in women in January 2005 about the activity of his tax men. Apparently the tax commando have visited 150 brothels in order to claim tax and VAT from the business owners [10].

Another aspect that indicates the strong relations between prostitution and pornography is the fact that during 2004 the police reported that many complaints of minors (girls) who were photographed naked digitally and their photos were distributed on the net or were blackmailed [11].

According to the annual Police report which was published in February 2005 there is an alarming rise of 13% in youth violence as well as an alarming rise of rapes. The fight declared by the police on illegal gambling and crime organizations resulted in a rise of 252% of money laundering files and the confiscation of 31.5 million shekels from criminals` assets [12].

Another Ministerial report was published in February 2005. This report issued by the Shefi section (Psychological Consulting Service) of the Ministry of Education. This report adverts a concerning rise in sexual violence among school students. From 2000 to 2004 the number of sexual assaults amongst school students rose by more than 70%. In comparison to 2003, where there was a rise of 20% in reported sexual violence acts under this category. 63% of the victims were girls, 90% of the perpetrators were boys, 60% of the victims were in primary school. Shosh Zimerman, the head of Shefi, doubts whether these numbers show a real growth or just reflects a rise in public awareness for this problem. She notes an urgent need to intervene in early ages. For perpetrators under 12 years of age there is no legal solution, though it is known that the earlier an aggressor begins a treatment there is a better chance for progress and rehabilitation. The number of these young perpetrators is estimated by hundreds [13].

According to Hilla Kerner Suleiman, head of the Federation of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel while handing a harsh report in Februar 2005 said "This data is only the tip of the iceberg of the whole phenomenon of sexual violence. Apparently there is a change in the way the Israeli society sees the victims of sexual abuse but many stereotypical notions still lurk underneath, the social denial, the silencing of the victims and their accusation" [14].

In April 2005 a report of the National Security Institute was published. Its bottom line statement is that the welfare policy of the Israeli government in the last 3 years actually deteriorated the position of Israel in comparison to other developed countries and since this policy is bound to continue, this year Israel will even be positioned in a lower status. Leah Achdut, the head of the Social Security Institute explained that "the cuts in the children allowances continues, the cuts in the allowances for unemployed single parents as well as in the allowances for elderly people, widows and infirmed persons are felt" . During the last decade the amount of poor families in Israel is rising from 12.6% to 18.1%. This number is definitely bleak when compared with Sweden where the percentage of poverty descended from 7.5% to 4.7% or with USA and Britain where the % is stable. One of 4 Israeli children is poor. The welfare budget in Denmark is 29.2% of the GDP. In Israel it is 17.7%. Hundreds of thousands are requesting aid from NGOs [15].

Following such a cascade of reports the specific data given by the police regarding TIP offences may seem irrelevant but it is interesting to see through this data how the enforcement of the directives and laws regarding the phenomenon of Trafficking in Women was put into place.

Table 1: Data received from the Police.



Regarding the breakdown of investigations conducted by police per offence we can not see a change from 2003 as Machon Toda`a did not obtain the break down of the offences for the police files that were opened. The total number of files opened for TIP offences is 552 - which is 36% higher than 2003.

Table 2: Police files opened for trafficking in women and related offences for 2003 as per data received from the Ministry of Justice:



The increase of 36% in investigations seems like a truly implemented directive. However, we are absolutely not sure how many of these investigations were actually done if the prostituted person was an Israeli citizen. The question is whether those offences were also included in their presented data.

Table 3 : Deported women vs. Prosecution witnesses 2000-2004 Data extracted from the Police data and the report of Isha LeIsha Feminist Center Haifa and the Hotline for Migrant Workers [16]".





Although the number of witnesses for 2001 is unobtainable we see a considerable growth in the number of witnesses in 2002, probably due to the fact that in July 2000 passed a law against trafficking in women. Nevertheless, the number of witnesses diminishes in 2003 as well as in 2004 both in absolute numbers as in percentage. This is a worrisome tendency as it shows a weaker implementation of the existing laws and directives. Year 2004 there does not show a change of tendency although the shelter for victims of trafficking was opened in February 2004.

It is sad but important to note that in some cases the police forced VOT to witness against their will also in 2004. This phenomenon exemplifies the chronic lack of police understanding regarding trafficking victims and continuous tendency to overlook and minimize the necessity of providing training for its officers. It was only in February 2004 that the first police training on trafficking in women was organized. NGOs representatives were also requested to lecture. Machon Toda`a hopes that these training sessions are going to be developed and are going to include all police units.

Not all is black there are some successes:

• In February 2005 10 suspects belonging to a trafficking ring which operated between Belarus and Israel were arrested.
  
  
• In the beginning of March 2005 a big affair was uncovered and attracted huge publicity in all the media. The affair related to money laundering and the police revealed that the accounts of 18 clients of one branch of Bank Hapoalim ( the biggest bank in Israel) were confiscated due to a huge money laundering investigation. The amount confiscated that was announced - 250 millions shekels ( 50 Million Dollars). One of the clients is known and looked for by the Interpol for years and is considered doing his fortune from trafficking in women - Semion Moigelevitz [17].
  
  
• In the end of April another affair was published by the police unit for severe and international crime. The Israeli consul in Holland was arrested suspected of forging Israeli passports for criminal elements and helped by another person in the Foreign Ministry. One of the passports was forged for a rich Russian citizen who, according to the police, is one of the central elements in the Russian Trafficking in women industry [18].
  
  

The Judicial System:

The law against trafficking in human beings calls for a maximal sentence of 16 years imprisonment. Though the law against trafficking in human beings was passed in July 2000 it was only during 2003 that the punishments accorded were significantly heavier. Unfortunately, heavier sentences were mostly associated with cases that were appealed before the Supreme Court.

Although the law calls and allows for compensating victims of TIP, once more we can see that in 2004 most of the victims were not awarded adequate, if any, compensation by the Court in criminal proceedings against traffickers. In the cases in which compensation was awarded to the victims (25% of the cases in 2003; 37% in 2004) the money was (and still is) deposited in the Court of Justice and can be withdrawn only by a legal resident who holds a bank account. If no other alternative arrangement are settled, the victim is not able to withdraw the money [19].

Since there is no interministerial coordinator who was supposed to issue and to follow procedures regarding the VOT cases the Ministry of Justice stopped its work to provide an adequate solution to this problem. During 2004 in two cases of Pandering and TIP the court has applied a confiscations tool, but since there is no procedure in place yet, or ever will be, the only beneficiary of these amounts is the state. The voiceless, 'absent' victim is therefore victimized and used again.

On the 29th of July 2003 the Knesset passed a law that legal assistance would be provided for the victims of TIP. This law is to be implemented progressively until August 2006. Still, most of the witnesses are deported immediately after testifying for the state against their traffickers, and so they are denied the possibility of filing a civil suit against the perpetrators who were convicted as a result of their testimony.

Details of the courts decisions during 2004 compared to 2003 can be seen in the tables below:



During 2004 four cases were appealed before the Supreme Court. Probably due to the harsh results during 2003 and that in almost all appealed cases sentences were not only upheld but were worsened we notice a wave of non appeals during 2004. Only two cases during 2003 were appealed before the Supreme Court and the sentences were asserted and maintained. In the other two cases' that were still pending and awaited hearing for more than a year, the sentence was in both cases decreased. See table below: (the 4 cases added to the list in 2004 are marked in yellow)



We can see how the situation in 2004 was complex. On the one hand, there is a net augmentation of prison time for pandering while TIP offences depend on plea bargains. There is a very small improvement, if any, regarding compensating victims. In one case, where the accused were sentenced to pay 25,000 NIS compensation for the victims, it was not possible to pay the VOT as the women were already back in their countries of origin. The court rejected a request of "Hotline for Migrant Workers" to represent the victims, explaining that if the legislator wishes that the victims are represented at this stage he would have mentioned this textually in the law. This case might prove right the statement in the dissertation of Adv. Itai Frost in his dissertation.It shows that the status of VOT in the Israeli courts is deteriorating to resemble the way the courts deal with local prostituted persons; they are invisible and absent from the court charge, though the offence was clearly done to them. Once again the victimless crime attitude is prevailing.

In the graph below we can see a sample of what can be done on the judicial level with an increase in punishment. Please note that for Criminal Case 910/02 the Supreme Court still did not pronounce the sentence and therefore it appears as "0" in the graph:




For more details regarding the sentences see Annex 1

In the beginning of 2004 it seemed that there will be extensive use the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law 5760-2000 for the crime of TIP : The first indictment using the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law 5760-2000 was issued by the public prosecutor in March 2004 against Semion Livshiz from Haifa who was indicted with Trafficking in Persons. Only one more indictment during 2004 until today follows this first example: CC 749/04 The State of Israel v. Tiomkin Leonid et al..

Assistance to Victims of trafficking

Shelter for victims of trafficking:

After a year of trial it was decided that the shelter is performing an important purpose and will continue permanently. However Machon Toda`a wishes to to bring to the attention the fact that The state-run shelter for trafficked women (Ma'agan), which was opened last year offers its facility only to trafficking victims that wish to testify. This is done in contrary to a government decision that the state shelter will harbor all trafficking victims! This is a breach of a government decision! The two main goals of this shelter are :

1. To create a comfortable place for women who are ready to testify in trafficking files.
   
   
2. Create the beginning of a recovery process in regard to the physical and mental state of the women as a result of the situation in which they found themselves, and to provide them with a beginning of a process to prepare them to return to their country of origin.
   
   

VOT in the shelter receive work and stay permits, they receive medical care basic humane support. The VOT are allowed to leave the shelter in certain hours and must return till a specific hour. In some cases sanctions are exercised, if the VOT misbehaves (such as: comes back drunk, missed the cerfew hour, or escaped the shelter). The major current problem is that the Police 'calls the shots' at the shelter and can detain or release a VOT depending on their needs. The police treatment to the VOT is not set up to put the victims need as a first priorty. Instead, they treat them as offenders. Hence, despite of the fact that in most cases VOT are read their rights or that they have access to them on the info board, some cases fall between the cracks and VOT misunderstand the purpose of their stay at the shelter (thinking they have commited a crime and are being accused). Volunteers from "Hotline for migrant workers" and "Machon Toda`a" are allowed to enter and help translating the rights to the VOT as well as answering some specific needs. The shelter manager, Adv. Rinat Davidovitch , is also interested in developping contacts with shelters in the countries of origin but it is for the moment a slow process only beginning.

There is still lack of a recovery process as the VOT are not aware sometimes for many weeks what is their situation. Some are sure that they are considered as offenders and await their sentence. For unknown reasons the shelter is using sometimes a sanctions policy which bewilders the VOT held there.Since they usually stay in the shelter for many months the recovery process is slow to put into shape.( see also annex III)

A Hot Line for Trafficked women

In January 2003 the Ministry of Labor decided to add to a national emergency hotline in Haifa an additional hotline for trafficked women. The hotline is working every day from 08:00- 20:00, but due to budgetary cuts the future of this hotline is in question. This hotline was closed during 2004 due to lack of funds.

Detention Centers:

Apart from the detention center "Michal" in Hadera which was opened in November 2002 and is still working there are another 2 detention centers: "Renaissance" in the north and "Zohar" in the south. "Renaissance" closed end 2004. According to the representatives of Isha LeIsha in the north and in the central part of the country the conditions of the victims of trafficking are not better than they were in the two last reports.

Embassies of countries of origin:

The travel documents of the victims of trafficking are usually confiscated by their traffickers. This leaves the women to the mercy of their traffickers but also to the mercy of their own embassies. Some of these embassies tend to exploit the victims as they demand a fee for the issuing of new travel documents. Since July 2003 the Embassy of Moldova demands US $80 and only through a bank account. The Embassy of Uzbekistan requests US$25 for the documents and also lengthens the necessary time for consular treatment of the documents.

In previous years the Moldovan Embassy noted on the travel documents of the victims of trafficking that they used to work as prostitutes in Israel. Following pressures from various NGOs the consul of Moldova recently agreed not to write these notes on the travel documents anymore.

Attitude of the media towards prostitution and TIP

The media remained silent during the 90`s in front of the crime of TIP. In 2000, when Amnesty International decided to make a report on trafficking in women and at the end published a report on Israel only, the Israeli media started talking about the issue claiming that Israel was the worst destination country in the world. Since Amnesty's report separates between trafficking and prostitution, the media concentrated as well on the issue of trafficking and continued to ignore the underlining phenomenon of trafficking - which is prostitution. Several journalists who followed the issue of trafficking insinuated and even baldly argued that some trafficked women prefer going through the ordeal of being trafficked to Israel (despite the bad treatment they suffered) rather than live or go back to their countries. From these articles and documentaries, spectators and readers could deduce that the problem was not trafficking in itself but the harsh conditions in some of the brothels. Even the articles that opposed trafficking per se used to remain silent on the issue of prostitution. During 2003 a new tendency appeared and we started to see articles on trafficking that raised the question whether legalizing prostitution would help to control the sex industry and improve the conditions of trafficked women. Other articles and documentaries started to "investigate" the local prostitution, emphasizing the issue of free choice. Some of the articles even directed the interviews so that the interviewees would talk about the necessity to legalize prostitution in order to control the industry and improve the "work conditions".

It seems that one of the reasons for this tendency is the fact that the newspapers earn a lot of money from ads for prostitution.

During 2004 this tendency increased. Some of the articles also talked about a new victim - the sex buyer - who due to police raids and decrease in the quantity of foreign women is left with no access to the demanded 'merchandise'.

The law against advertising for prostitution was implemented during 2004 and all the journals were fined large sums of money. However, the advertisers adopted quickly to the legal changes and merely the terminology or wording of the ad was changed to "discrete work" or "discrete relationships" and the problem created by the new law was avoided.

Following are two stories from the Globes' paper on April 26 (2005) that set an example for some of the problems that of advertising sex. The first example is the mishap of advertising in the journal "Pnai Plus" an ad with the wrong number. Unfortunately, the published number belonged to a 72 years old religious man. The add was published in the newspaper for one month and throughout that time the elderly man was receiving demanding phone calls, usually during the night, from demanding aggressive callers requesting for services" [20].

The second example was titled as "Sexy Revenge" by a Globes writer. An employee, who was fired from his job at the mobile service company (PelePhone), decided to revenge on his boss. He opened for her an advertisement in a BDSM site and posted there her telephone number, which left her exposed to harassment and humiliation. His female boss filed a civic complaint against him of 100,000 shekels which he was obliged to pay including the trial costs. This "prank" cost him indemnities of 5,000 shekels, half a year of suspended arrest and $20,000 compensation paid to his former boss [21].

It is reasonable to think that the presentation of the issue by the media has consequences that can be perceived in the results of the public opinion survey done by the Knesset research center in December 2003.

Public opinion survey:

The Knesset Information and Research Center issued a Public opinion survey on 8th December 2003 by Ella Heller, Senior researcher:

"Public position and awareness regarding the phenomenon of trafficking in women and the public perception how Trafficking in Women is a violation of human rights". (See 2003 report).

Since then the two other surveys that the Knesset Information and Research Center issued were reports about the systems that are used in other countries to handle the prostitution phenomenon:

http://www.knesset.gov.il/mmm/doc.asp?doc=m00981&type=doc

Since there was no mention in these reports of the Abolitionist system (as per the 1949 UN Convention) which was signed by 80 countries including Israel it is unquestionable that the lobby trying to enforce legalization of prostitution or that at least its decriminalization gains space.

This research shows that a public campaign by the authorities and NGOs through the media explaining the connection of TIP with human rights as well as the fact that legalizing prostitution will not decrease TIP is vital. It is striking to notice the lack of public awareness that trafficking is not only a phenomenon that occurs on the international level. Machon Toda`a has encountered cases where Israeli women were sold between pimps and were considered as merchandise going through the same hell as the trafficked foreign women: rape, kidnapping, physical and mental violence, threats, starvation conditions, detention, etc. When the last report of the Parliamentary Investigation committee was published MK Zehava Galon noted that she was particularly shocked by its findings which indicated that the public and that especially men had a lenient position towards the sex buyers and do not link the TIP and prostitution phenomenon to the violation of human rights of the victims. "The research findings are more than anything a testimony to the blindness of the Israeli public regarding human rights, human dignity including the dignity and freedom of women" [22].

Local Prostitution

Machon Toda`a does not have yet any statistics regarding Israeli prostitution as it is difficult to enter the whole underground world of prostitution and quantify the data we do have access to. Israeli prostitution is to be found in discrete apartments, in the streets, hotels, saunas, brothels, etc. and the prostitutes are women, men and transgender persons of all ages and origins. Many advertisements in the local and national newspapers in Hebrew and in Russian advertise "wanted for a discrete job" benefits: "Discrete lodging" and "salary: 4-5 thousands dollars a month" or "high return salary".

Local prostitution in discrete apartments

One of the most striking phenomena in the development of local prostitution is the discrete apartments prostitution. (see details in last year's 2004 UN Report).

Local free distribution newspapers advertisements mostly revolve around Sex "Service" and publish numerous phone numbers of discrete apartments. Clients as young as 11 and 12 years old call these numbers and even come to these discrete apartments to buy a prostitute/ sex.

There are also many announcements "needed for discrete work in a discrete apartment". In March 2005 the reputable radio station "Galei Zahal" relayed a horrific story of kidnapping. A 31 year old man was accused of kidnapping a young Israeli woman who replied to an ad for a discrete work. She refused to accept the offer so he detained her in a locked apartment and forced her to receive clients.

In the magazine TIMEOUT an article was published in the beginning of February 2005 indication a new social phenomenon within the upper class of young men from the center of Israel. Two (well known) pub owners were interviewed for the piece, telling the reporter about the legitimacy of ordering 'sex services' for young successful (and even married) men. They were explaining the easiness of young attractive men, who come out for a drink in the bar, to end the night with a call to an "escort-girl" [23] . They claim that the reason for this phenomenon is the sudden overwhelming number of beautiful foreign women available and call their theory: "the Ape theory: it is an instinct of the apes to fuck all the young female apes" (a quotation from the article).They base their assumption also on the fact that since there is a growing demand for intimate relations (either male or female) in exchange for money, through advertisements asking for "financial supporter", it means that sex for money is a natural phenomenon and a kind of prostitution anyway.

Some discrete apartments in Tel Aviv are very well known in the clientele population and cater for groups from small and faraway towns which hoard to the big city for fun during the weekends. Some of the discrete apartments are known to be very crowded and practically look like a train station during the weekends.

Other discrete places or escort services cater for clients who do not wish to be seen. Escort services for BDSM clientele are an example of such discrete services, though some take the "private service" to an extreme. As of late, Machon Toda'a received info about some BDSM clients who pay capacious sums of money for women if they agree to cover their eyes and let the clients do as they wish with them. Women who get involved in such circles either disappear abroad, if they wish to get away, or disappear all together without a trace. It is quite possible to believe that these women are exposed to clients from the worst kind - men who enjoy mutilating others and belong to the elite of society, with a lot of power and money in their hands. Though this might seem an extreme example of human rights violation, such discrete BDSM and regular apartments are becoming more common. Furthermore, more and more places are hiding in the underground world because they fear income tax raids, making it harder for authorities to locate the places.

Street Prostitution in Tel Aviv

The situation is elaborated in the 2004 report.

There is change in the street prostitution during the last two months. In Tel Baruch there was a murder of one of the women in prostitution in the end of February - an incident that gave many of them a sense of insecurity and some of them also pronounced their wish to end "the life.

Dangerous acts of violence are also augmenting in other 'hot' prostitution areas like Gan Hachashmal and Central Bus Station.

Gan Hachashmal Aerea:

During 2004 many mainstream pubs were opened in Gan Hachashmal area. Due to the demographic change in the area the usual "sex buyers" who used to roam this area are reluctant to visit the place as they are afraid to be seen (since some of them are known media personas). In addition, the police is patrolling the area all the time to control to maintain order and to prevent problems. They stop the prostituted persons who are standing there and ask them to circulate and not to be there when there will be a second police tour. Another problem is that pub customers go through the area while searching for parking and harass and laugh at the standing men and youth as the place is known as a male prostitution area.

We can hardly see any Palestinian prostituted male and youth, like we did in past years. Some of Palestinian prostituted persons were arrested and jailed since they were also drug dealers. Some are still there but they are harassed by the Israeli security authorities who are trying to persuade them to become informers otherwise they are threatened to be deported to the Palestinian authority. The situation is very trouble some.

There are also discrete apartments for young male prostituted persons. The pimps circulate in the area and propose the prostituted men and youth to join the apartments. The police circulating there do not stop these pimps although it is obvious that they are committing a felony.

In the same area, regular women brothels still exist. It is quite common to see cars stationed there, where watch-men (pimps) sit to watch the entrance to the brothels to stop women from escaping. The circulating police see them but do not stop near them. This is shocking as it means that only pedestrians are chased away. The police is harassing only those that seem a nuisance to the public, but are not interested at dealing with the phenomenon, only its visible side effects.

Where is the community responsibility of a police representative when he/ she checks the IDs of minors, sees their age but does not offer any assistance to these minors in the area at 4 am in the morning? The teams of Elem continue to roam the area and distribute sandwiches and coffee but lacks the capacity to assist 90% of the persons since they are addicted to drugs. A new NGO introduced itself lately and claims to help the drug addicts of the area . This NGO is called "Someone to run with" .

Still, the current trend is that many of the prostituted men and youth disappear in discrete apartments, making it even more difficult to find out what is going on inside that distressed community.

Violence problems:

Gangs of arabs with knives attack the standing persons, sometimes to rob them or harass them violently. The police does not do a thing about this issue. Some of the foreign workers also come to the area to sell themselves as male prostitutes. The sex buyers (old homosexual customers) are taking them in their cars but in many cases the customers are robbed and beaten and are afraid to report the assaults to the police.

A particular phenomenon known only in this area:

In the Central bus Station there are still several prostitution places. Last year was opened a dancing club for Ethiopian youth. Boys come out of the club and go to the prostitution clubs. Sometimes, when they do not have enough money to buy sex form a female prostituted person they accept the offers from male sex buyers who also circulate the area. With the money that the Ethiopian boys gain from prostituting themselves to homosexual sex buyers, they go and buy sexual female services. Also the Ethiopian girls coming out from the club are approached by sex buyers in the circulating cars. Some of them do accept sometimes to mount the car. The area near the central bus station is a circulation area for cars and it is taking for granted that all walking persons in the area have services to offer and are approached by the circulating cars as if all pedestrians are potential prostitutes.

Medical Center Levinski 108 [24]

Levinsky Health Clinic 108 (Run by the Ministry of Health) -
Summary of Activities for 2004

• Marketing "Levinsky Clinic" services in brothels in Tel Aviv and allowing the option to run health checks related to STDs on the location.
  
  
  • Purpose: To inform the trafficked women about the existence of the clinic and to allow, those that are interested, the option to be checked at the mobile unit of the clinic.
    
    
  • Each visit to a brothel included a representative team that was composed of: the clinic's manager, a doctor or a nurse, and volunteers.
    
    
  • At the first quarter of 2004 - 50 brothels were visited in the Tel Aviv Area.
    
    
• Distributing unique handouts and condoms
  During the patrol rounds the following was handed out:
  
  
  • Advertisement flyer regarding the services offered in the clinic in Hebrew and Russian.
    
    
  • Informative booklet about STDs.
    
    
  • Educational handouts that encourage the clients to take responsibility and wear a condom.
    
    
  • Free condom distribution.
    
    

Informative booklets about STDs were also distributed in the different sex shops around the central bus station area (where many brothels are situated). The educational booklets were available in Hebrew, Russian and Arabic.

• Open Clinic
  
  Open Clinic is a joint project for the Levinsky Clinic and PHR (Physicians for Human Rights) aimed at increasing the accessibility of trafficked women to health services. An extended health service has been created thanks to the unique collaboration with PHR. A joint flyer was distributed (in Hebrew and Russian) advertising the two clinics, and the telephone no. where they can call and leave a message at any time, with any request they have.
  
  
• Recruiting a social worker
  
  Due to the extension of the clinic's outreach activities, and the need to have a personal follow up for the prostituted persons coming to the clinic - a social worker was added to the team on a part time basis. She has experiences in the area of addiction.
  
  
• Recruiting volunteers for the mobile unit
  
  
  • Recruiting and operating volunteers without any previous exposure or dealing with people in prostitution.
    
    
  • Orientation night for the volunteers was designed to explain the unique psychological and societal aspects of prostituted women.
    
    
  • A training meeting took place for new 6 volunteers regarding visiting brothels (escort services and such).
    
    
  • An article was published in a local Russian newspaper covering the activities of the clinic and requesting the need for Russian speaking volunteers.
    
    
• Operating the mobile clinic at brothels, massage parlors, etc.
  
  
  • 13 patrols have been documented between the months March to October 2004. Most of them were to market the services at the clinic. Blood tests were taken at 5 of the patrols from 20 different women.
    
    
  • 70 visits to brothel took place from March to August 2004. Some brothels were visited more than once.
    
    
  • Most brothels are situated in specific areas: south of Tel Aviv, center of Tel Aviv, around the central bus station, around the stock market exchange area in Ramat Gan.
    
    
  • Over time the responsiveness to the clinic's services diminished. Where as at the beginning of its operation, both prostituted women and the traffickers (brothel owners, pimps, madams etc.) expressed an interest, when the mobile clinic returned - the brothel was closed or the services were rejected by the brothel owners. Often, the team came across a strong oppositions by the brothel owners, claiming that there are no prostituted people inside (despite knowing and seeing otherwise).
    
    
  • From October 2004 the mobile clinic was equipped with a van with a driver from the ministry of health. Until then all patrols were done in a volunteer setting with private cars. 8 patrols were done with the van.
    
    
  On November 2004 the patrols around the brothels were stopped as the demand for its services decreased dramatically. The majority of the women claim they are Israeli citizens with a valid health insurance, and are not interested in performing preventive tests for STDs. In cases where the brothels are open, pimps often block the entrance of the mobile clinic's van from entering it perimeter. Due to the extensive operations of the migration police to arrest trafficked women who entered the country illegally and closed down brothels - many of the brothels have closed down and their operation changed to a more underground nature. In addition, striptease clubs are no longer a target place for the clinic, as all the women claim that do not have full sexual relations or favors - this is in complete contradiction with the stories men tell when the come to the clinic for STD related health issues. On account of all these factors, it was decided that the mobile clinic will focus its efforts on "open prostitution scenes" (mostly referring to street prostitution). The "open prostitution scene include: The stock exchange market area, the old central bus station, and Tel Baruch Beach.
  
  
• Operating the mobile clinic in Tel Baruch Beach - for prostituted women
  
  
  • During November 2004 to January 2005 the majority of the patrols tool place around Tel Baruch and Mandarin Beaches.
    
    
  • It was decided that the patrols will take place once a week, on a set day (Monday), to allow the prostituted women to develop long term trust relations with the mobile clinic team.
    
    
  • After a month of committed visits of the van, on rainy days, equipped with food and hot drinks, the women were eventually convinced in the good intentions of the clinic's team. The women and transgenders express their liking and feeling of closeness to the clinic's team and its volunteers.
    
    
  • At one particular tour - a transgendered prostitute recognized the van and went in to socialize at our company. The stories she told us were valuable to our understanding of her life, and it showed us that they can turn to us for assistance.
    
    
  • However, overall only one urine test was taken on the location. The results were negative besides Herpes and evidence for passed syphilis.
    
    
  • The clinic's team is now working on joint health awareness promotion project with some of the local prostituted women in that area.
    
    
• Promoting Healthy sexual conduct at Ma'agan
  
  
  • Ma'agan is a shelter for victims of trafficking that was established by the government, as part as their fight againt trafficking women for sexual purposes into Israel. Though it was designed for all victims of trafficking, there is a priority to accept into the shelter only women that are willing to testify against their traffickers.
    
    
  • As of April 2004 a joint project has formed (with the shelter's staff) to promote responsible sexual behaviour.
    
    
  • The project included a series of educational classes and tests for STDs (both at the shelter and at the clinic).
    
    
  • Dr. Moshav, the physician at the Levinsky Clinic, conducted 3 educational meetings at the shelter about STDs, preventative measures, its importance and so on.
    
    
  • During this year, 5 health checks took place at Ma'agan, where 63 women were examined.
    
    
• Summery
  
  During 2004:
  122 prostituted persons were examined at the Levinsky Clinic and the mobile unit.
  
  Overall:
  283 prostituted persons were examined, from which 20 were men.
  
  

Prostitution and Trafficking in Jerusalem

The prostitution situation in Jerusalem was relayed in the previous 2004 report.

According to a statement from the Police of Jerusalem and articles in the local Jerusalem newspapers it seems that discrete apartments and hotels prostitution is almost eradicated there.

As per article in "Kol Jerusalem" the almost total eradication of prostitution in Jerusalem brought about a new phenomenon. Local women from other cities rent an apartment in Jerusalem for one or two months. Clients reach them through publicity in newspapers or through a network of hearsay. There are also escort services that bring women from Tel-Aviv so when a client from Jerusalem calls the service he has to wait about 2 hours. The article reports violence of clients.

A hotel manager, who was known for renting rooms for prostitution purposes, declares that in the "high season: everyday at least 15 rooms were rented out for prostitution purposes and now only 2 to 4 rooms. The reporter finds a new victim of the phenomenon - the client. "Now Jerusalem has many clients and only 2 or 3 prostitutes. In the end we (clients) will fuck each other [25]"

Youth prostitution in Jerusalem

The mapping of the prostitution of minors in Jerusalem is still not done. However Machon Toda`a can clearly state that the issue starts to get some attention from the media [26].

A short synopsis: Due to the hard economic situation a new phenomenon is taking place in Katamonim, a rundown down poor socio-economic neighborhood in Jerusalem: young girls, even 12 years old, are selling their body for very little money. Prostitution is not new here, but the very young age is a new trend. A land lady said that the girls are driven to it due to a deteriorating financial situation. "I have nothing, no clothes, no food, nothing. My mother can hardly take care of herself. In this way I can buy myself new clothes for the holiday, not very expensive, from the bazaar, cheap jeans and T shirts" one of the girls said. Part of the money goes to the landlady. This particular girl has been doing it since she was 11 years old. Everybody knows where these brothels are. They are called 'zoola' and are usually run down, abandoned flats. These flats are home for some of the girls, who would be forced to be homeless otherwise. The reporter visited several flats, and found them small, pestilent and overcrowded: 40 square meters, four beds, no other furniture, unbearable.

The neighbors are aware. "We don't mind if they are Arab women, but minor Jewish girls, this is terrible. They work outside and only sleep here, so we don't mind" the neighbors said. "We complained but the authorities claimed that they have now right to interfere. Sometimes we hear screams, cries and fights". The Katamonim is an attraction for young people who run away from homes and from institutions, like shelters and detainment homes for underage. Most of the clients are older men who know where to go and how to get hold of the girls. One of the girls explained that the place is different from Tel Aviv or other cities. The girls do not dress like prostitutes, and do not raise their hands on the roads. like 'on television'. There are people who offer money and gradually they bring friends and later on pimp the girls and the process is slower and therefore the way back is almost impossible.

"Elem" stopped their activity in the neighborhood three years ago. Police said that the volunteer organizations are not helping and they encounter difficulties because there are no addresses. Other sources in the Police claim that the problem is known and they can't relate to it.

Ayala Sbag, a local activist said that the problem is acute, little girls are selling their body and nobody cares. "there are many organizations, but they do not do anything about it. These places (the flats, the brothels) must be closed down and our children kept away from the beasts that use their bodies."

Shabi Amedi, in charge of youth department at the City Council said that the problem is known and not only in the Katamonim. The last three years the prostitution of underage girls is spreading and the age goes down all the time. 12 years old prostitutes is not a rare occurrence. The reasons are diverse: deteriorating economy, lack of parental authority, runaways. Schools banish difficult pupils and the girls have no any stable framework and plenty of free time. He also said that some of the girls are attracted to criminal elements, and they get protection, attention, presents, drugs and find themselves selling their bodies. He claims that there are several tens of such girls in the Katamonim. The most acute is the situation of young teenagers around 16 or 17, but there are several very young girls, and the numbers are growing.

The manager of the social services of the neighborhood, Shula Wolf, on the other hand, claims "We do not know of such a specific phenomenon".

To the "classical" prostitution scene we have to add the issue of young religious persons leaving the ultra orthodox community and finding themselves in a secular environment unknown to them and sometimes hostile. We also have to add the special composition of the city that seems to allow a flow of young persons from one community to another, completely different one.

Youth prostitution in Israel:

According to the report of "Service for girls in distress" from the Ministry of Welfare there are officially 17,000 girls up to the age of 21 who are considered in need for welfare assistance.

According to the official data 3,500 girls are from the Arab sector but former MK Hosnia Jabara stated that this number is minimal and she stated a figure of 10,000. The Minisry of Welfare reported in November 2003 that 600 girls of Russian or Ethiopian origin were kept as sex slaves around the southern city of Beer Sheva in the Beduin settlements. According to the welfare services of major cities in the south of Israel (Shderot, Kiriat Gat, Dimona, Beer Sheva, Arad and others) there are hundreds of young girls who practice prostitution for a pair of Jeans or a perfume while still in school. The head of the welfare department of Shderot declared in a TV report "UVDA" done by Ilana Dayan 2 weeks ago [27] that his unit takes care of 28 girls but he is aware of hundreds more and in his city the situation is not alarming as in the other southern cities.

In the city of Bat Yam, near Tel- Aviv , there are 350 known girls aged 13-14 that are prostituting themselves at extremely low prices.

These are only a few examples of the evolution of prostitution of minors in Israel. Similar situations can be found in other cities in the country. (see the synopsis of the article about one neighborhood in Jerusalem).

Facing this terrible situation, there are only very few shelters.

In Tel-Aviv, for example, ELEM started the "Erim Balayla" project during 2001, which is a reinsertion project for prostituted minors and young persons.

During the time that the project is active 90 young persons at the ages of 13-21 were helped. 13% girls; 74% boys and 13% Transgenders.The volunteers keep intensive contact and accompany on a long term basis 31 young persons. In March 2004) Dorit Friedman pointed out while issuing an awareness campaign that the number of known prostituted minors in the TelAviv area reach 200. This year ELEM chose not to send any new data.

In Bat Yam to assist 350 girls in prostitution there are only 4 social workers in the Municipality unit in charge of boys and girls, 1 transit apartment, 1 "Hot house", 4 girls places opened after school for girls and some community projects. There are always minors who do not find a place that suits them and it is true not only for Bat-Yam but for the whole country. Only some days ago ( 26/4/2005) the country was devastated because of a terrible story of 2 girls aged 13 and 14 who were prostituted by their mother and aunt in Arad ( A city in the south of Israel). Their situation was known for almost a year to the welfare authorities and to the police and only the determination of a brave woman who had seen. The story shocked the general public and pre-occupied the media for some days.

Machon Toda`a would like to remind that prostitution is a result of social and gender inequality and that this situation worsens during times of war and economic depression. In a country such as Israel where:

• Between 15% to 17% of the minors are considered at risk.
  
  
• 83% of these minors will not receive institutional aid.
  
  
• A large part of the population is composed of recent immigrants that face harsh economic difficulties.
  
  
• A large portion of the women who are single parents do not succeed to break away from the poverty circle.
  
  
• 60% of the unemployed are women.
  
  
• 2/3 of those who depend on social welfare are women.
  
  
• 1 in every 4 women will undergo sexual harassment or rape during her life ( knowing that in most of the cases it happens in families and against minors).
  
  
• 1 in every 7 women is a battered woman which means that the woman and her children live in an atmosphere of violence and fear.
  
  
• The difference between the richest and the poorest part of the population is one of the biggest in the western world and only grows from year to year and so is the difference in salaries between men and women.
  
  
• And to top it all the government and the Knesset agreed to important budget cuts especially in the welfare and education systems.
  
  

Facing this situation, Machon Toda`a does not think that it is relevant to talk about improving the "work" conditions of persons in prostitution by legalizing prostitution. We must confront the current deterioration of social conditions, improve the education system as the welfare system and start working towards a society without violence and abuse in order to prevent the development of prostitution as well as creating a safety net for those who are already trapped in prostitution. It seems that due to the lack of awareness campaigns and lack of will to introduce adequate education programs in primary schools, Israel is heading towards a path of accepting and letting its citizens to sell their bodies for money and thus allowing the legalization of prostitution through the back door.

The actual situation is better illustrated in an article issued by Raul Taitelbaum ,in his article " The financial side of prostitution":

" Prostituion develops in times of crisis and Israel is now in crisis: On the one hand there is unprecedented accumulatin of wealth by the very few, there are those few whose yearly salary is higher than average salary of 35 years of a person who receives average salary. On the other hand, the income of 70% of hired workers is below the average salary. You need to read the the recent report of the National Security Instritute in order to understand where we live: 32% of only one provider families are poor; 53% of single parent families are poor; 43% of the families who immigrated to Israel since 1990 are poor.

Who is responsible:

What has the Minister Sharanski, who represents the immigrants in the governmnet of Sharon, has to say about this? He is silent. He is worried about the democratization of the Arab world...

What has the Minister of Finance, Binyamin Netanyahu, who is responsible for the acute deterioration of the social situation in the last 2 years, has to say about this? He dreams of his vision that within 10 years Israel will be one of the 10 developped countries in the world. But there is no need to wait 10 years to be among a ten countries group. We are already there. We are even in the top of this group after USA but not as a comfortable high living standard country but in a different section and Netaniahu prefers to ignore how he contributed to this position.

It is possible to be irritated or to disregard the figures but in 2005 Israel is high up in the list of western countries as far as revenues inequality, deep social gaps, poverty among children and some more social criterias.

The shocking exposure of the two girls from the immigrants family is a testimony for that. This happened while Netaniahu is the Minister of Finance. Not the Arad police or the welfare services of Arad are to blame that Israel is in an advanced process of discomposition [28]"

---

[8] "Invigurating strippers" by Uri Yablonka, Maariv 29.3.2005 , p. 22

[9] "The Hotline: Porno industry reveals the third generation cellular", Ofer Shmueli, Yediot Achronot, 27.2.2005 ( Computers, Page 6

[10] "The financial side of prostitution", Raul Taitelbaum, Globes 28.4.2005 p.3

[11] Virtual blackmail, Dudi Goldman, Yediot Achronot, 27.2.2005 (24 hours, page 4)

[12] Police report for 2004, Ami Ben David , Ma`ariv 22/2/2005

[13] Ministry of Education Report, Uri Kashti, Maariv, 24.2.2005 , P. 5

[14] Rape Crisis Center Report, Gil Chorev, Maariv , 21/02/2005

[15] "Teudat Aniut" ( translation) , Gil Horev, Maariv , 20.4.2005 page 6-7

[16] "Isha Overet LaSocher" (Trafficking in Women in Israel) 2003, Hotline for Migrant Workers, Isha LeIsha Feminist Center Haifa, Adva Center. ,

[17] Globes, 10-11, March 2005

[18] "The Consul Yzhaki was released to home arrest; The police: we have firm evidence in Holland., Noam Sharvit, Globes, 29 April 2005 , p. 16

[19] Since 2001 and until today the VOT who are compensated through court verdict cannot get the funds to their account as they are not allowed to open an account without an Israeli ID card. VOT who have been involved in court procedures and are not staying in the shelter due to various reasons are denied the right to get the compensations. VOT who have been deported back to their countries of origin, even if they are represented by an NGO are sometimes not able to receive the compensation.

[20] "What a sexy error", Noam Sharvit, Globes, 26 April 2005 p. 11

[21] "What a sexy revenge", Noam Sharvit, Globes 26 April 2005 p. 11

[22]MK Zehava Galon, quoted in an article " MK GALON: To close 300-400 brothels" by Ruth Sinai, Ha`aretz , 25.3.2005,P. 11a

[23] "Code name: order a Pitza", Golan Caspi, TIMEOUT . 10/2/2005

[24] Report of Yael Gur for the Medical Center Levinski 108, Ministry of Health, March 2005

[25] "Nearot Ovdot ( lost girls)", Yuval Himan, Kol Hazman 18/2/2005

[26] Yedit Aharonot weekend supplement 'Yerushalyim'. Name of the article "Working Girls" by Etty Shpiegel. Date April 29, 2005. Page 14 - 15

[27] TV Report UVDA (fact), Ilana Dayan, Aroutz 2, April 2005

[28] "The financial side of prostitution", Raul Taitelbaum, Globes, 29/4/2005 p.3