Fourth Chapter: Measures taken by national and local authorities
On December 2000 Israel signed the UN Convention against transnational Organized Crime but did
not sign on the attached protocol dealing with trafficking in women arguing that the inter
ministerial committee is still examining if this protocol fits the Israeli law. This argument
is an excuse due to the fact that the Israeli legal system is based on the British Common law,
therefore signing and ratifying an International Convention has no impact unless it has been
passed as a law by the Parliament.
On June 13th a parliamentary investigation committee was created and headed by MK Zehava Galon
from the party Merez. This committee included 17 MK`s representing all the parties in the Israeli Parliament. On December 13th the committee gathered for the second time and representatives from
NGO`s among which Center Awareness and Hotline for foreign workers were invited for the first time. Representatives from the NGO`s declared themselves opposed to the legalization of prostitution as
a means to fight against trafficking in women.
The same day was also the last day of this committee due to the fact that parliamentary
investigation committees are created only for six months and that the head of this committee,
MK Zehava Galon , did not request for its prolongation on time. Only in March 2001 MK Zehava Galon has recalled for another meeting of the said committee and work was resumed.
In January 2001 an Inter ministerial committee to check and recommend steps to face the phenomenon
of trafficking in persons for prostitution purposes was created headed by Superintendent Avi Davidovitch. This committee met several times and heard some NGO`s as well as other experts on
this issue. One of the recommendations of this committee would probably be to urge the state of Israel to sign the Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons especially women and children attached to the UN Convention against transnational organized crime. Until now no report was delivered.
On the local level:
On December 2000 the Haifa municipality has decided to establish a committee headed by Miriam Farkash, member of the city council. The target of this committee, which comprises representatives
of the Haifa police, Haifa port authorities, Ministry of Interior, Health and Welfare as well as other NGO`s representatives, will be to establish steps towards the abolition of trafficking in
women and the legalization of the prostitution in Haifa. These are clearly opposing targets and stating that the abolition of trafficking will be achieved when prostitution will be legal shows
lack of comprehension vis a vis the complexity of the issue. Further more, according to the
Israeli law prostitution is not a crime, however the law punishes the exploitation of the prostitution of others. The legalization of prostitution and brothel owners constitutes the
violation of the Israeli law.
A glimpse of the situation can be felt through an article written by Mariana Olizki In "Tel-Aviv"
(a weekly magazine attached to Yediot Achronot) on 23 March 2001:
Last week Tel Aviv Police (YAMAR-Central Division) raided one of the 250 brothels in Tel Aviv.
Here is a short description of what they have found. " The brothel "Furmis" in Hamasger street
is a 3 stories building. Surveillance is everywhere with the help of inner circuit TV surveillance system. To enter the premises one should pass iron gates guarded by several bodyguards with a cold weapon in their hands. Then one passes through another iron door guarded the same way. To reach the upper stories one should take an inner elevator, guarded as well and protected by iron doors.
The police found another passage in the third floor leading to a narrow corridor. At the end of this corridor was a suspicious cupboard. Behind the cupboard another very narrow passage was found leading to a guarded locked door. Behind this door the police found 2 rooms with only mattresses and 10 women locked up with no way to escape. The sanitary status of the rooms shocked even the policemen.
The chief of the YAMAR, Superintendent Menachem Frank , stated that the Yamar is fighting against
the trafficking of women, rape and selling of women to other brothels.
This statement does not coincide with the fact that 4 months ago, in spite of the fact that the law does not consider prostitutes as criminals, Tel-Aviv Police proceeded in a process of registration of prostitutes. In the beach of Tel Baruch, in the northern quarter of Tel-Aviv, the police obliged all the persons that were on spot to be photographed and give fingerprints. The police invented a reason for doing this - It is to protect the prostitutes from Palestinian terrorists?! This is a pure violation of human rights.
