TFHT works to reduce the purchase of sexual services in Israel with the goal of ending sex trafficking and eliminating the danger of women falling into prostitution and exploitation. Currently, 14,000 people are prostituted in Israel — men, women, transgenders, adults, and minors — 204 of whom have died, either by their own hands or at those of clients or pimps. Their average age of death is 40. The most common age of entering prostitution is 13-14, 8th or 9th graders. Most prostituted persons were sexually abused as children. These statistics clearly indicate most prostituted persons do not engage in sex work by choice, but rather out of desperation, finding themselves outside the frameworks of school and family. Read More...
ATZILAH was established to enable victims of trafficking and prostitution to exit the cycle of sexual violence by accessing higher education, as well as the social and emotional support they need to succeed. Participants in the program will thrive as self-sufficient women, redefining stereotypes. Until this project was founded in 2023, a crucial gap existed in services offered to survivors of prostitution—making higher education accessible. Only by offering many women in prostitution the opportunity to fulfill their highest ambitions, with the close mentorship of a woman who has done so herself, will they truly be able to exit the cycle of exploitation and gender-based violence and become self-sufficient members of society. Read More...
There are approximately 30,000 Eritrean and Darfurian asylum seekers who have fled to Israel after escaping violence, oppression and civil war. Among these desperate individuals are 900 single mothers and their young children. These vulnerable women and children–the ger, yatom, v’almanah (stranger, orphan and widow)–have no legal status; are threatened with deportation; cannot legally work; and lack medical care. In partnership with the Consortium for Israel and the Asylum Seekers (CIAS), ATZUM provides food, diapers, and access to basic health care for these vulnerable families. Israel’s government has refused to provide resident status (or to relocate them to a safe third country in cooperation with the United Nations. Thus, the life-sustaining support provided by ATZUM and its partners is critical. Read More...
Since the horrific events of October 7, the war in Israel continues to be a life- and soul-threatening crisis. The war and its rocket and missile barrages still ravage. As the massacred will forever be mourned, the wounded and maimed have years of painful, uneven rehabilitation ahead, and the hostages’ suffering relentlessly intrudes. The impact of the ongoing war is compounded, as the growing number of young Israeli soldiers killed extends the personal suffering to even more families. ATZUM seeks to alleviate the suffering of families and individuals directly affected by the October 7 attack and its aftermath by providing financial assistance for housing, food, clothing, and counseling to families displaced by the war in Gaza and in the north. Read More...
ATZUM’s Righteous Rescuers initiative was established in 2002 to aid Righteous Rescuers and their families–117 family units.
At the end of 2023, there were 160,000 officially recognized Holocaust Survivors living in Israel, their average age 85. 60% of these individuals, who arrived in the last wave of immigration in the 1990’s, are particularly vulnerable, since they are ineligible for the full government benefits provided through reparations agreements. ATZUM works with other organizations to provide assistance in accessing government and private funds earmarked for Shoah survivors; facilitates access to medical resources unavailable through HMOs; and maintains ongoing contact with isolated individuals. Read More...
