Jerusalem Post

February 5, 2012

By Felice Friedson/The Media Line

Activists take new tack on prostitution problem by addressing the demand side

Enjoying the services of a prostitute in Israel may cost you more than money – it may get you time in jail, under a proposed law that would criminalize buying sexual services.

Dozens of people demonstrated outside of Israel’s parliament on Sunday to push lawmakers to adopt legislation that could curtail sex trafficking by making the purchase of sexual services from prostitutes punishable up to five months in jail. They would also have to attend a two-day educational program, known as the “School for Johns.”

Similar protests took place in New York, Washington DC and London, all highlighted the dire plight of the tens of thousands of prostitutes estimated to be employed in a multi-million dollar industry in Israel. [Read more…]

eJewishPhilanthropy

February 5, 2012

By Yael Rosen

Over the past weeks, protests have spread throughout Israel calling for a response to racism targeted at the country’s Ethiopian community. Sparked by a Channel 2 story on discrimination in Kiryat Malachi, citizens have taken to the streets to show their outrage at the status quo. Though the despicable slurs and actions that triggered these protests are blatant examples of these grievances, they conceal a deeper issue.

Beyond more overt examples, Ethiopian Israelis are often considered less desirable neighbors, and frequently have a harder time finding a job. They are perceived as a poor, underprivileged community and face the stigma of lacking the capability to contribute equally, even if this myth is belied by reality. While some of this is outright racism, the rest is symptomatic of a deeper and far more widespread prejudice – indirect or concealed racism. [Read more…]

The Huffington Post

February 4, 2012

By Ruth Eglash

In just over a week, Israeli lawmakers will be faced with a tough decision: Whether to approve legislation that will make paying for sex or utilizing any other type of sexual service a criminal offense.

While there is no exact figures on how many people utilize the services of sex workers in Israel, anyone who has visited Tel Aviv or Haifa lately will likely have come into contact with those little business cards or flyers promoting “escort” services.

Generally, NGOs estimate that each month up to 10,000 men — from all sectors of Israeli society (secular, religious, Jews, Arabs and foreigners) — visit one of the hundreds of discreet apartments or brothels throughout the country.

What is worse, however, is that there are more than 15,000 individuals working in the prostitution industry and 5,000 of them are minors. Most, say the professionals, are there because they have no choice. [Read more…]

JTA

February 2, 2012

By Gili Varon

RAMAT GAN, Israel (JTA) — In Israel, an estimated 15,000 individuals are involved in prostitution, including 5,000 under the age of 18, according to reports shared with the Task Force on Human Trafficking by Knesset member Orit Zuaretz of the Kadima Party, as well as other experts and activists. The reports say that the average age of entry is just 14 and that more than 90 percent of those involved in prostitution in Israel are subject to severe physical abuse, often by their clients.

Justifications abound for having prostitution be legal. Some claim that prostitution is a source of easy money or that its lengthy history points to its inevitable continuity. There’s even the dubious claim that it is a necessary conduit allowing men to fulfill their biological needs. Such myths clash dramatically with the truth and conceal a sordid underworld of violence, rape and the worst forms of abuse. [Read more…]

Yediot Ahronot

December 23, 2011

By Limor Simon

88-year-old Ilya Lieberman wanted the world to know that his wife Klavdia and her parents had risked their lives to save a Jewish mother and daughter during World War II. Ten years ago, he approached “Yad Vashem” to have them recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations”. Last week, Klavdia was honored posthumously at a ceremony in Ilya’s home in Bat Yam, featuring students from the Elon School in Holon. “The Righteous Among the Nations are disappearing, but I’ve come full circle. I did it for her,” says Ilya.

Ilya arrived at the ceremony for the “Righteous Among the Nations”, his eyes glimmering and his heart pounding with excitement. Wearing a jacket adorned with medals of honor, most of which he had earned as a serviceman in the Russian Navy, he marched down the esplanade leading to the “Elon” school in Holon. He smiled to the students, saying only “Todah”- the Hebrew for “thank you”, among the few words he knows in this foreign tongue. [Read more…]

Arutz 7

December 12, 2011

By Chana Ya’ar

Newly-identified, little-known “Righteous Among the Nations” Klavdia Likholetova was honored at a unique student ceremony last week by students who came to say “thank you” for the miracle of life, in the upcoming season of miracles.

Likholetova was recognized for her heroism and selflessness in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust at a special ceremony held at the Eylon School in Holon on Friday — but it was her husband, Iliya Lieberman, who attended the ceremony arranged by the ATZUM organization, the students and schools staff.

Likewise, Lieberman had accepted the certificate and medal on behalf of his wife when Likholetova was recently recognized by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial as a Righteous Among the Nations.

Likholetova herself had passed away in 2003 in Bat Yam, having made her home in the Land she had grown to love, had fled to herself after the end of World War II, together with the husband for whose people she had been willing to sacrifice her own life. [Read more…]

Jerusalem Post

November 24, 2011

By Yael Rosen

Today, thousands of Ethiopian Israelis will celebrate Sigd, the annual holiday marking their ancestral desire to return to Zion over the generations.

The actual date of the holiday is the 29th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan, but because this year’s holiday falls on Shabbat, celebrations are pushed up to Thursday.

Many revelers will travel to the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in Jerusalem for a festive reenactment of their annual ascent to a high hill in Ethiopia where they prayed for the end of their long, bitter exile and a swift return to the Promised Land.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, whole Jewish communities left their lives in Ethiopia behind and started walking toward Jerusalem. The journey was treacherous and many lost family members along the way. The dream of Zion clashed with the harsh realities of aliya, with numerous repercussions still being felt today.

As a commemoration of a traditional event from the “old country,” Sigd highlights the ever-growing chasm between the two generations of Israel’s Ethiopian Jews: those who made the journey from Ethiopia, and their children and grandchildren born into the Israeli reality. While the holiday still holds much importance for the elders, symbolizing their fulfilled dreams for the Land of Israel, much of the younger generation does not share those sentiments. [Read more…]

Jerusalem Post Magazine
October 14, 2011

By Ruth Eglash

Within minutes of meeting Rabbi Levi Lauer, director and founder of the non-profit social rights organization ATZUM – an acronym for “work, justice and law” or “Justice Works” in English – it is easy to see how over the past decade his thought-provoking and deeply philosophical fast talk has contributed to improving the lives of countless individuals, often society’s most downtrodden.

“Jewish sovereignty means taking responsibility for the darkest places in your history and the most problematic places in your society, the most vulnerable citizens that live among you,” reflects the American-born Lauer, who made aliya more than 30 years ago, as he explains how he went from being a renowned Jewish scholar at some of the country’s most respected Jewish institutions – Pardes, WUJS and the Shalom Hartman Institute to name a few – to tackling a wide variety of under-acknowledged social problems, perhaps most fascinatingly the gritty horrors of Israel’s brutal sex slave industry.

“It seems to me that the Jewish world, particularly the traditionally observant community, has become abhorrently triumphant. It is so full of itself, so self-confident and sure in its newfound wealth, its newfound power and its newfound strength, that it has grown far less aware and responsive to the have-nots in the society in which it lives,” observes Lauer, who clearly embodies the tagline on his charity’s website: “ATZUM: Addressing Urgent Need in Israel, One Person at a Time.” [Read more…]

Jerusalem Post
October 9, 2011

By Ruth Eglash

Human rights groups and the Knesset Subcommittee on Trafficking in Women are taking on Israel’s burgeoning sex service industry.

Committee chairwoman MK Orit Zuaretz is set to raise the stakes in the coming months battling prostitution with potential legislation that will make it illegal for a man to utilize the services of a prostitute.

“I am connected to this issue through my work as the chairperson of the committee and I have come to understand that the petrol that maintains trafficking in women is the demand for sexual services,” said Zuaretz, who recently returned from a two-week trip to the US to explore the white slave trade.

According to the MK, both women trafficked to Israel for work in the sex industry and local women who wind up working in one of the country’s many discreet apartments or brothels come from very poor or problematic family backgrounds. In short, their careers as sex slaves are derived from a lack of other options.

“These women never come from wealthy families and taking advantage of them in this way is like buying blood diamonds,” she points out. “If you buy a blood diamond it is criminal; if you buy the body of a woman it should be criminal too. I don’t understand why this is tolerated by the public in a Jewish state.” [Read more…]

Jewish Daily Forward
October 6, 2011

By Nathan Jeffay

It’s a bigger sacrifice than most people could ever imagine. But for Esther Grinberg-Boissevain, risking her life by hiding  innocent Jews during the Holocaust just wasn’t enough of a contribution to the Jewish people. The Dutch nurse also decided to move to Israel.

“Israel was a special state, a new state, and there was an opportunity to help build and help care for people,” she told the Forward at a Rosh Hashanah party for so-called Righteous Gentiles, who are known as such for hiding Jews from the Nazis.

Grinberg-Boissevain is one of at least 130 Righteous Gentiles who made the decision after the war to move to Israel. It is only now with the group dwindling fast from old age that members are starting to tell and write down their stories. Grinberg-Boissevain, for example, has a homemade pamphlet that she shares with friends and acquaintances.

“People in Israel, even in the communities where [Righteous Gentiles] are living, just have no idea that they are there,” said Yael Rosen, coordinator of ATZUM’s 9-year-old project to make records of their stories. “People are amazed when they hear about the heroes living in their midst.” [Read more…]