"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt"
- Exodus 22:20
Trafficked Women In Israel - Report for the UN Conference
The trafficking of foreign women for the purpose of working in the Israeli sex industry has
become a widespread phenomenon in Israel. According to Amnesty International's report which was published in may 2000: " in the past few years thousands of women, including some girls, from FSU countries have been trafficked to Israel to work in the sex industry. Under Israeli laws, virtually
all these women are illegal aliens. They are in Israel without work permits or with false documents, which makes them particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses at the hands of traffickers, pimps
and others involved in Israel's sex industry." According to the Israeli police, nearly 500 foreign
women were arrested in the year 2000 in brothels. Most of these women were deported, while the
majority of the pimps were released. The few women that agreed to testify against their pimps were
held for many months in prison until the preliminary hearing in court since there is no protection program for them. So, ironically, the few women that are willing to speak out against their oppressors despite the high risk they take, are punished once more by the authorities themselves,
while their pimps and traffickers are free.
The Hotline for foreign workers is the only NGO with access to the foreign women who are held in prison, and therefore is a valuable source of information.
In January 2000 we managed to convince the authorities to separate foreign women, arrested prior
to their deportation, from Israeli criminal women in the only Israeli prison for women:
"Neve Tirtsa". As a result of our activity, the prison authorities were instructed to keep the foreign women in separate cells. 6 cells, in which there are 24 beds, were prepared for foreign women.
Very rarely are there only 24 women waiting to be deported. Usually there are many more women who
must reside with Israeli criminals in the same cells under the same difficult conditions to which convicted criminals must adjust.
Because of lack of space, Neve Tirtsa prison authorities often refuse to accept foreign women , who are then detained in police stations or police detention centers, in which the conditions are much worse than the conditions in Neve Tirtsa. We cannot know how many women remain in stations and for how long since these women usually have no access to the phone.
Despite the fact that most of these women are under severe mental strain and do not understand Hebrew or English, there is no budget for a Russian speaking social worker in Neve Tirtsa prison.
On average, foreign women spend 1 week in the police detention, they are then transferred to
Neve Tirtsa prison where they spend there 3 more weeks prior to their deportation to their home countries. The long stay at Neve Tirtsa is a result of the fact that most of these women arrive
in Israel with false passports and have to wait for travelling documents to be issued by their consulates. About half of the women are deported with no money at all, with the Israeli
government financing their flight ticket home.
During our two and a half years of activity in the foreign women's section of the prison we have collected data that very often contradicts the authorities claims:
The police claim that trafficked women refuse to testify against their pimps and that all women arrested in brothels are interrogated by the police, but refuse to cooperate. When interviewed at
the prison all the women who speak Hebrew or English usually tell us that they were not
interrogated by the police at all.. Some of them say that they were asked to "say what they know..."
and that is it. Despite the fact that most of these women arrive in Israel with false passports,
the police interrogation does not reveal their real identity. When arriving at the prison, the
prison authorities interrogate them in order to discover their real identity so that travelling documents can be issued for them. At this stage most of them reveal their identity without hesitation. Our claim is that since the policemen and the prison guards wear the same uniforms,
the attitude of the trafficked women towards them should be identical. Yet - their real identity is being revealed only when arriving at the prison. We assume that the reason for this is that
the first time they are interrogated is when arriving at prison and not before as the police authorities try to claim.
We met many trafficked women in the prison who told us that they want to testify against their
pimps but most of them refuse to remain in prison for the 3-4 months while waiting for their preliminary hearing in court (this is the amount of time it usually takes for the preliminary hearing). Since there is no shelter for women in their situation - we are unable to promise them
a better arrangement. Some of the few women who wanted to testify despite the hard conditions in prison, preconditioned their testimony: one of them wanted to be deported to her husband in the Palestinian authority instead of to her home country, Ukraine. Another wanted a promise that she will receive a staying permit in Israel after her marriage to her Israeli boyfriend. They were both rejected by the police who claimed that they were lying in order to get what they wanted.
We know of only 3 trafficked women who forced the authorities to interrogate them and press
charges against their pimps. We believe that if there were more - we would know about them.
The first one, N, had a relationship with an Israeli guy. He wanted to marry her and when her
pimp "rented" her to another pimp, her boyfriend helped her escape and file a complaint with the police. Despite the instruction the police have not to arrest foreigners who complain about crimes against them even if they are illegal in the country - N was arrested. The police refused to release her on bail claiming that her life was in danger while her pimps were still free. Yet, they claimed that the pimps were too dangerous and that they were unable to arrest them. N's boyfriend, who realized that his chance to release his girlfriend would improve if the pimps were arrested
- phoned the pimps, told them that the police were looking for them and advised them to turn
themselves over to the police immediately, which they did. N was released on bail after
spending 5 days in prison.
The Public Prosecutor pressed charges against her two pimps. One of them was declared unfit to
stand trial and the other was sentenced on February 15th, 2001, to 2 years in prison, 1 year on probation and about 5000$ fine to the complainant. He admitted to being her pimp and of "renting" her on daily basis to another pimp. The public prosecutor's claim was that N was "rented" for only
5 days from the time the new law against trade in human beings was approved till her escape with her boyfriend. They also claimed that N's testimony was such that there was a risk that court would find the pimp not guilty at all. The pimp was not accused of rape at all since N did not mention the fact that the pimp had had sex with her. Since she was his property - she thought it was needless to
mention.
The police interrogator did not bother to ask her if she was raped. No charges were pressed against him regarding the felonies: managing a brothel and living off prostitutes' income, despite the fact that his confession clearly indicates it.
The Second case, V1, was arrested in a brothel and sent to prison for deportation. Since she had no passport, she had to spend 3 months is prison waiting for her travelling documents. She had come to Israel because of promises to earn $1000 a month giving massage and had ended up working as a
prostitute for 11 months without receiving any salary. She decided not to go home without the
money that was promised to her. We sent her story to the police and after a month and a half
of trying to persuade them to interrogate the case, we were told that they had decided not to interrogate since there was no evidence to support V1's testimony and claims. We reminded the
police that against one of her pimps there was another pending criminal case (later we found out
that there was another pending case against another one of her pimps), but they still refused to interrogate.
3 weeks later we raised the problem of the police refusal to interrogate in the Parliament
investigation committee on the issue of women trafficking. The next morning we were asked by the police to bring V1 to be interrogated. She related the story of 8 people who sold, bought or
raped her, and gave their phone numbers and addresses. 22 more days passed till the police
arrested the first one of her pimps for interrogation. Another one of her pimps left the
country before the police got to him.
V1 was released from prison on November 9th, 2000 to a friend's house. She was instructed not
to work and the police promised to pay for her upkeep. Despite our repeating requests, the police failed to fill that promise. On February 22nd, 2001, we helped V1 claim her upkeep expenses in an appeal to the High Court of Justice. The court instructed the police to pay V1 6000 NIS per month from the time of her release till she finishes testifying in court. We were told that the check
had been sent already however up until 21/03/01, more than 4 months after V1's release from
prison - the up keeping expenses still had not been paid. At the same hearing, the Court decided
to separate the hearings of the 8 defendants against whom she needs to testify. The reason is that
3 of them are charged for only procuration while the other 5 are also charged with rape under aggravating circumstances . That cruel decision, which will force V1 to testify twice in two
different courts, only fortifies the impression that the Israeli authorities do not take
the trafficked women's mental well being into consideration.
The 3rd case is of V2. We met V2 in Neve Tirtsa prison only after she had finished testifying
against her pimps. According to the court file - V2 ran away from her pimps when they had failed
to pay her salary. She went to the police and complained about the pimps not paying her salary as promised. She claims that the policemen promised her the possibility of suing her pimps for her
salary. She was sent to a pension at police expense till she finished testifying and immediately afterwards, she was taken to the Airport to be deported back home. V2 refused to go home without
suing her pimps. She was sent to Neve Tirtsa prison where we met her. We assisted her in suing her pimps in a civil court and we managed to get her released her to a friend's house till she finishes testifying in the civil court as well.
When asking details from the public prosecutor handling her case, we were answered rudely that V2
should have left the country long ago and that she must leave immediately. The public prosecutor refused to acknowledge V2's right to claim her rights in court after fulfilling her duty to the Israeli authorities and testifying according to their requests and demands. Despite the fact that
V2 was released by the Control Authority of the Ministry of Interior, two policemen still found
a reason to brake into her hostel room without showing any warrant, enter the shower in which
she was at the time and demand that she will come out with only towel to cover her body and
all that - just in order to ask her how come she is still in the country.
Despite all that, we can definitely see a positive development in the Israeli authorities'
attitude towards the issue of women trafficking since Amnesty report was published on May 2000.
We do not have exact figures, but if during the year 2000 we found in two major Israeli newspapers articles about 13 different incidents of women traffickers who were arrested, from the beginning
of this year we found already 11 different incidents: more than 3 times as much!
During the year 2000, out of the 13 incidents mentioned - policemen were involved in 4 incidents:
3 cases of policemen informing pimps about police raids and 1 case of a policeman who was accused
of managing a brothel himself. During the first 3 months of 2001, out of the 11 incidents
mentioned - policemen were involved in 2 incidents: 1 case of informing pimps about police raids
and 1 case of a policeman accused by a women of having sold her to another pimp after her arrest
(since the women conditioned her testimony in a promise to a legal status after her marriage to her Israeli boyfriend, the police refused to interrogate the case). That shows an effort to prevent policemen from being involved in the sex industry against the law.
Except for the 3 cases mentioned above of the complainants N, V1 & V2, all the incidents were
interrogated based on a police decision and not on the victims desire to testify.
According to the police data:
During the year 1998 - 459 women who were arrested in brothels were deported
During the year 1999 - 253 women who were arrested in brothels were deported
During the year 2000 - 487 women who were arrested in brothels were deported
100% of these women were "sold" at least one time - by the agent who brought them to Israel
to their first pimp. Many of them were "sold" few more times. Most of them were locked up in
apartments and brothels, raped, forced to have sex with no condoms against their will, forced
to receive customers even when requesting to rest, and were not paid as promised, if at all.
We cannot know for sure how many trafficked women testified during these years since some of
the women who testified against their pimps were held in pensions or in police stations till they finished testifying and were deported without our knowledge. We can only say that from the hundreds
of women that we met in prison during the last 2 and a half years, less than 20 women were asked to testify.
Since the felony of trade in human being is relatively new (approved on July 21st, 2000), we know
of only two pimps who were accused of trading in women for prostitution purposes. The first one
is N's pimp who was sentenced on February 15th, 2001, to 2 years in prison, 1 year on probation
and about 5000$ fine to the complainant. The second one was sentenced on March 19th, 2001 to
5 months community service. In this second case, the reason for the large gap between the
16 years imprisonment permitted by the law to the final sentence was explained by the public prosecutor by the fact that some witnesses had disappeared during the trial and by the fact
that the defendant was not the main defendant in this case since the main defendant in this case,
had run away from the country. The judge took into account the young age of the defendant (21)
and the difficult conditions of his family. They did, however, consider the fact that the defendant held the complainant locked in her working place against her will.
According to information given by the police, charges have been pressed against only 14 pimps
since the law against trade in human beings was approved. The trafficked women waited on average 4
months for their preliminary hearings. If the rest of the sentences will resemble the above two
miserable decisions - we have no chance of reducing the profitability of women trading in Israel.
We accuse the Israeli authorities of treating the trafficked women as criminals and not as victims,
and of deporting them rather than to protect them and their rights.
We accuse the Israeli police of arresting only those pimps that they find it convenient to arrest.
We accuse them of ignoring the criminal activities of well known pimps who buy, sell, rape and torture trafficked women, but cooperate with the police on other matters and assist them to arrest other criminals which offenses (from some reason) seem more severe to the Israeli police.
Most of all, we accuse the Israeli public prosecutor that openly instructed the police to arrest only pimps that are involved in other criminal activity besides selling the bodies of women.
Despite the fact that all brothels' owners and managers in Israel are breaking the law constantly, the public prosecutor instructs the police to ignore it.
We accuse the public prosecutor of ignoring the 16 years imprisonment permitted by the new law against trade in human beings and of making shameful plea bargains with pimps that make the
whole trial procedure appear to be ridiculous.
