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Police Bust Women-Trafficking, Prostitution Ring in Tel Aviv

December 11, 2015 by

Times of Israel

November 29, 2015

Network smuggled Russian and Ukrainian women into Israel and ran brothels in luxury high-rises, investigators charge

The investigation, reported Sunday by Israel Radio, was conducted under the auspices of the Tel Aviv Police and resulted in the arrest of two men suspected of running the trafficking ring.

Additional arrests are expected, the Hebrew-language Walla news site reported.

The suspected ringleader of the group, identified as Leonid Streimer, is a 35-year-old resident of the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam.

The investigation reportedly turned up a complex operation in which the network would locate young Russian and Ukrainian women, some of whom had worked as models, and convince them to come to Israel on tourist visas, promising they would find work amid the difficult economic situations in their home countries.

Once they got to Israel, the women were housed in luxury condominium towers and expensive hotels, where the ring allegedly operated brothels for businessmen and wealthy individuals.

The women would charge significant fees for their sexual services, of which the network operators would get a percentage. A police source told Walla that one woman told investigators she would earn $3,000 or more per week, most of which she would send to her family in Ukraine.

The investigation began following complaints by neighbors in the luxury buildings, who suspected that brothels were being operated near their homes.

In September 2014, police arrested two suspects for running a prostitution ring that consisted of Russian and Ukrainian women brought to Israel on medical tourism visas.

According to the Task Force on Human Trafficking, an alliance of Israeli NGOs, there are 15,000 women working in the sex trade in Israel.

 
Filed Under: In the Press, News, Task Force on Human Trafficking

Jewish Community Unites Against Sex Trafficking (Video)

August 20, 2013 by

Human trafficking is a $32 billion annual business, with an estimated 70 percent generated by sex trafficking.

ATZUM’s founder and director Rabbi Levi Lauer participated in a powerful conference hosted by UJA-Federation’s Task force on Family Violence, which ATZUM’s Task Force on Human Trafficking helped to organize. Rabbi Lauer and other conference participants are interviewed in this video entitled We Were Slaves: the Jewish Community Unites Against Sex Trafficking.

This 3-minute video explains the urgent need for this initiative and delivers the resounding message: Sex trafficking is our problem and we, the Jewish community, can take steps to stop it. 

YouTube Preview Image

Atzum’s Founding Executive Director Levi Lauer is featured in this video (starting at 2:34)

“Sex trafficking is an abuse of the Divine image, into which every human being was born,” is his core message.

You can learn more about this Jewish communal initiative here: http://www.ujafedny.org/advocate/

Sex Trafficking - YouTube

Filed Under: Blog, Task Force on Human Trafficking

Sexual Trafficking in Israel

January 12, 2011 by

The Huffington Post
January 12, 2011

By Marcia G. Yerman

January 11 was Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day. The statistics are overwhelming. Sexual trafficking makes up a significant percentage of these numbers. No country is immune. It happens in Germany. It happens in Thailand. It happens in the United States and the United Kingdom. It happens in Israel.

The exact numbers of sexually trafficked persons, including children, varies from organization to organization. Sexual trafficking is now the world’s second top crime, tied with the illegal sale of guns and arms. The drug trade is number one.

Individuals are taking personal steps to get involved and lobby for change. Some are coming out of the faith-based arena. One of them is Peggy Sakow, the U.S. Outreach Coordinator for Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, a Canadian Reform congregation. The synagogue has partnered with the Israeli group ATZUM, and their Task Force on Human Trafficking (TFHT). Jointly, they have launched a North American letter writing campaign directed to prominent cabinet ministers of the Israeli Government. It urges the leaders to pursue tougher measures against human trafficking and sex slavery in Israel. [Read more…]

Filed Under: In the Press

‘Women for Sale’: An Israeli Campaign Against Trafficking

November 17, 2010 by

Ms. Magazine Blog
November 17, 2010

By Kyle Bachan

If you were in Tel Aviv a couple of weeks ago, chances are you might have done a double-take as you passed by a certain shopping center storefront. Instead of using mannequins to sell clothing items, there were live models on display–perhaps a more natural way to show off the attire. But then, if you looked closer, the price tags weren’t clipped to their clothes: They were attached to the women’s wrists.

“Women to Go” is actually an Israeli activist campaign created  to raise awareness about human trafficking. Its in-your-face tactic was meant to shock, and while not everybody has agreed on the method, few can dispute its effectiveness in terms of attracting attention: The campaign has been covered by media outlets worldwide, including a front page feature on CNN.com. [Read more…]

Filed Under: In the Press

Highlighting the Reality of Trafficking

November 2, 2010 by

With the aid of poignant street theatre, members of the ATZUM’s Task Force on Human Trafficking stood in Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv campaigning to criminalize the customers of the sex industry. Highlighting the reality of trafficking, real women stood like mannequins in a store window, with price tags attached announcing that they were for sale. The campaign, called “Women To Go”, was launched to promote this legislation. The campaign was a huge success. To hear more about the campaign covered by CNN click here

Filed Under: News

Conference of Religious Educators Against Trafficking and Exploitation (CREATE)

Israeli and international experts on human trafficking will gather at Kibbutz Ma’aleh HaChamisha on the 11th and 12th of January 2011 to engage in intensive discussions about the issues of human trafficking and how religious educators may better confront the problem.

Rabbi Levi Lauer, Founding Executive Director of ATZUM and member of the Israel Task Force on Human Trafficking, noted that, “The struggle against trafficking in persons has attracted too little attention by the religious public in Israel, even as the exploitation of abused laborers and sex slaves has become a growing factor of Israel life. We hope that this conference will begin to fill this void.”

Featured speakers include many of Israel’s experts on trafficking and those involved with providing services to victims, including representatives from the JDC, the Shelter for Trafficking Victims, Mirpa’ah Levinsky, Tzlait and Kav L’Oved.   Among the speakers addressing the issue of trafficking from a Jewish perspective will be Dr. Aviad Hacohen and Rabbi Naftali Rothenberg of the Jerusalem Van Leer Institute, Rabbi Yuval Cherlow of Yeshivat Petach Tikva, and Gilla Rosen of Yakar in Jerusalem.  MK Orit Zuaretz, Kadima, will also address the group on the legislation she has proposed to criminalize the customers of prostitutes.

The Conference is sponsored by the Task Force on Human Trafficking, a joint project of Amutat ATZUM and Kabiri-Nevo-Keidar, in collaboration with the International Organization of Migration (IOM).

People-Trafficking Gang Uncovered

March 13, 2009 by

ATZUM’s Task Force on Human Trafficking has worked for years in cooperation with the Israel police in an effort to arrest and prosecute slavers and traffickers and to close the brothels and discreet apartments where trafficked women are enslaved. As a result of our efforts, the largest ever people-trafficking ring in Israel was recently uncovered. Twelve members of the gang were arrested by police in Tel Aviv on March 8th following a two-year undercover operation.

The suspected traffickers are accused of smuggling hundreds of women from the former Soviet Union into Israel to work in the sex industry.

Visit the TFHT website to read the full report, People-trafficking gang uncovered.

Filed Under: News, Task Force on Human Trafficking Tagged With: , , ,

Sex education at Machane Yehuda shuk

August 2, 2017 by

Shannon Nuszen, June 28, 2017, Times of Israel

During the peak lunch hour in the middle of Jerusalem, at the Machane Yehuda shuk today, the arrival of a new food truck caused quite a bit of rukus. Calls to “come get your meat” on a loudspeaker, and girls passing out small sandwich bags, brought about large crowds expecting to get a free taste.

Meet the Meat was a typical looking roadside food truck, with a large kosher sign.  The difference was that rather than selecting your cut of meat from the cow diagram, there was an image of the female body. Each portion of the female body was labeled and numbered. The menu consists of sexually descriptive names of the female anatomy.

If you were to take one of these free sandwich bags, you’d find a very graphic story of various women who resort to prostitution for income.  It also describes the type of client they serve, as well as the sexual services they provide. The sandwich inside was not edible, and was an unpleasant raw piece of meat between a bun. It was quite shocking to all who approached the truck, which was obviously the point.

A little-known fact that many learned today is that prostitution is legal in Israel, but there is very little legislation addressing the issue. For instance, the buying or selling of sex is completely legal, but the profit of those services cannot involve a 3rd party. In other words, it’s an individually run business – no pimping allowed.

The organizers are part of a local NGO named “The Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution” (TFHT), along with M&C Saatchi Advertising firm.

The legalized status in Israel is causing the industry to soar, and the demand for more prostitutes is a huge concern. “Beautiful young men and women end up trapped in the life of prostitution” explained one of the activists.  The organizers of the demonstration explained that they hoped to shed light on the problem, and promote bills currently being presented that introduce the “Nordic Model.” The Nordic Model approach to prostitution (also known as the Sex Buyer Law) decriminalizes all those who are prostituted, provides support services to help them exit, and makes buying people for sex a criminal offence, in order to reduce the demand that drives sex trafficking. “If we remove the legalized status of prostitution in Israel, we believe it’s an important step in solving the problem” said one of the young women handing out the sandwich packs.

Filed Under: In the Press, Task Force on Human Trafficking

The Criminal Prohibition of Consumption of Prostitution Services and Community Treatment Bill was approved by the Knesset’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation

July 16, 2017 by

22 Tamuz, 5777

The Criminal Prohibition of Consumption of Prostitution Services and Community Treatment Bill was approved by the Knesset’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation

TFHT – The Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution, a joint project of ATZUM and Kabiri-Nevo-Keidar: “A Historic Step Towards Changing the Face of Israel Society”

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved the proposed Criminal Prohibition of Consumption of Prostitution Services and Community Treatment Bill, 2017, drafted by the Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution and by MKs Shuli Mualem-Refaeli and Zehava Gal-On. The Committee also voted support for parallel measures submitted by MKs Dr. Aliza Lavie (Chair of the Sub-Committee on Sex Trafficking and Prostitution), Aida Toma-Suleiman, and Merav Ben-Ari (Chair of the Committee on Advancing Women’s Status).

Rabbi Levi Lauer, co-founder of the Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution: “Today, the Ministerial Committee voted appropriately to take responsibility for 12,500 prostituted persons and for the image of Israel society by unequivocally saying “No” to sex trafficking and the purchase of prostituted services. We have struggled for a decade to bring Israel in line with many other states that have legislated that women’s bodies are not for consumption. We eagerly now anticipate speedy passage of the bill in the Knesset that we might truly bless, ‘She’he’heyanu’ – we have indeed come to a better time.”

Attorney Ori Keidar, co-founder of the Task Force Against Human Trafficking and Prostitution: “This is an exciting time in which the Knesset is taking a very important step in dealing with the severe social illness of prostitution in Israel. For the first time, the law provides a comprehensive response to all the components of the “industry”, foremost to the consumers who create the demand for prostitution and draw more and more women into the circle of prostitution.”

Attorney Avital Rosenberger-Seri, Director of the Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution: “After a decade of difficult struggle, we are gratified the Israel government chose to convey a message of hope to women in prostitution and to Israel society as a whole. You can eradicate prostitution – you need decide to place responsibility on the consumers. It is possible that a generation will grow in Israel for which the purchase of sex and women will be illegitimate and illegal. We congratulate the Members of Knesset without whose cooperation with TFHT-The Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution this bill would not have passed. ”

The bill drafted by the Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution includes three parts: the prohibition of the criminal consumption of prostitution, the penalty for which is a fine, or imprisonment, according to the gravity of the offense; rehabilitation and assistance for prostituted persons; and the establishment of a national authority to combat prostitution and assist its victims, including a public awareness campaign to strengthen the law’s impact.

Filed Under: Blog, Task Force on Human Trafficking

It’s Time to Put the Pressure On

July 12, 2017 by

We are at the threshold of a potentially defining moment in the struggle against the consumption of prostitution in Israel!

On Sunday, July 16, a bill initiated and shaped by TFHT and  promoted by MKs Shuli Mualem-Refaeli and Zahava Galon, will be submitted to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation. The bill seeks to criminalize the purchase of prostitution and provide rehabilitation for prostituted persons.

In preparation for this ministerial decision, the first and critical step toward passage in the Knesset’s current session, we seek to mobilize all possible support to ensure that the proposal will be passed. Therefore, we ask you now to email the members of the Ministerial Committee of Legislation, urging their support of this bill  to abolish prostitution in Israel.

Please inform friends, relatives and community leaders so that they might also help. This Sunday is the time to demand Israel’s decision-makers fulfill the will of the public and act without delay to prohibit the consumption of prostitution and rehabilitate victims of prostitution in Israel.

Step 1: Copy the email addresses below of the members of the Ministers Committee of Legislation, to a new email:

Infovatikim@pmo.gov.il; sar@justice.gov.il; uria@knesset.gov.il; sar@moh.gov.il; sar@tourism.gov.il; sar@moc.gov.il; sar@moia.gov.il; oakunis@knesset.gov.il; ministerts@most.gov.il; religions@religions.gov.il; sar@sviva.gov.il; sar@moch.gov.il; Sar@mof.gov.il

Please Bcc: project119.tfht@gmail.com 

Step 2:  Insert in subject line: This is your time to act – support the Criminal Prohibition of Consumption of Prostitution!

Step 3: Copy and paste the letter to the new email. Sign your name at the bottom, and hit send!

We thank you for your action and support!

Letter:

Dear Government Minister,

On Sunday, July 16, 2017, the Knesset’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation will consider the Criminal Prohibition of Consumption of Prostitution Services and Community Treatment Bill, submitted by MKs Shuli Mualem-Refaeli and Zehava Gal-On. I appeal to you to support this important bill.

71 Knesset Members and Ministers from the coalition and the opposition have declared their support for the bill, and polls reveal 76% of the Israeli public believes the government should act to abolish prostitution in Israel. Meanwhile, prostitution kills – in the last decade, 59 women have died as direct result of their lives in prostitution.

The bill turns the spotlight on the hidden side of prostitution – the clients who are the driving force of the “industry”, an industry turning over 1.2 billion NIS annually. Without client demand there will be no supply. A clear statement by the Knesset that consumption of prostitution is an immoral, illegitimate act to be legally proscribed will drastically decrease that demand.

The National Survey on Prostitution in Israel, conducted by the Ministries of Social Affairs and Public Security, reveals a harsh reality. In Israel there are 12,500 women, men, and teenage girls in prostitution; 97% are Israeli, 62% are mothers of children under the age of 18; and 1,500 are minors. The overwhelming majority of prostituted women report they entered prostitution as a result of economic distress, and 80% testified they would immediately leave the cycle of prostitution if they had the possibility to do so.

Law prohibiting the purchase of prostitution and rehabilitating the prostituted person has been implemented in many countries, including France, Sweden, Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland and more. Its message is clear: society is not willing for women to endure such extreme harm and therefore need act to reduce demand by deterring the consumers of prostitution.Studies show implementation of the prohibition against the purchase of prostitution has led to a marked reduction in the incidence of prostitution in all its forms, as well as to the reduction of human trafficking. In addition, the studies contradict the claim that prostitution “goes underground” or leads to an increase in sexual violence against women.

The voices of prostituted persons are barely heard. In Israel, few can say they have escaped the living hell of prostitution, or even mention it, because of the lasting, negative perception of women in prostitution. All this suggests prostitution is not an “occupation” like any other. It is an extremely violent life that ruthlessly exploits the body and soul for the gratification of another.

The following is an excerpt from a letter by S., a victim of prostitution:
“The post-trauma I suffer from my days in prostitution is not less than that of a child who was raped all her life. To hear someone say that the inability to eradicate prostitution is a reason to institutionalize it is like saying the inability to eradicate pedophilia is grounds for institutionalizing it.” 

For women in prostitution, suffering daily because of the Knesset’s apathy, time is running out. You have the responsibility and the ability to give thousands of women a chance for a different life.

We call upon you to support the Criminal Prohibition of Consumption of Prostitution Services and Community Treatment Bill, and therefore create a more decent, humane Israel for all its citizens.

Filed Under: Blog, Task Force on Human Trafficking
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