Sex Slaves In The Holy Land

According to Saleet, a hostel for prostituted women in Tel Aviv, the average age of entrance into prostitution in Israel is 14, and “coincidentally” 90 percent of prostituted persons are victims of incest, rape, and abuse.

Teenage prostitute

Rebecca Hughes writes:

Sex slaves in the Holy Land, then and now

Prostitution in the Holy Land has a long history that stretches back to before Israel’s founding in 1948. At the start of World War II, Tel Aviv was known as a “Holiday City.” Soldiers and men throughout the region poured into the city to partake of its burgeoning flesh trade and, according to complaints filed during the British Mandate, prostitution flourished in cafes, apartments, and various public spaces. [It had a similar reputation under the Ottomans during World War I, when there were reportedly 500 prostitutes working in what was then a tiny backwater town. The prostitutes were Muslims, Christians and Jews from all backgrounds – allegedly even including girls from the old haredi yishuv. – FailedMessiah.com]

After World War II and with the creation of the State of Israel, new immigrants, who were occasionally forced to prostitute themselves in order to survive, fueled Israel’s sex trade. As in countries all over the world, Israeli sex buyers readily exploited economically and socially disadvantaged populations. Yet, as Israel developed into a wealthy nation, it became economically viable to sustain a sex trafficking industry, and international organized crime quickly recognized a financial opportunity.

By the 1990’s Israel was established as a destination country for trafficking, and international sex trafficking victims had replaced the local market. Israel’s flesh trade was booming and making between half a billion to three quarters of a billion dollars a year. It was a particularly desirable market for traffickers because the purchase of sexual services was, and still is, legal in Israel. This protects traffickers because it makes it difficult to prosecute them and to identify their victims. Throughout the 1990’s traffickers acted with impunity and, according to the Hotline for Migrant Workers, smuggled 3,000 women annually into Israel.

The women arrived largely from the former Soviet Union, but a small percentage came from South America and Asia. The countries of origin shared two common denominators: a dire economic situation and women desperate to provide for themselves and their families. Traffickers promised women work as au pairs, waitresses, or medical masseuses. A few were told that they would work as exotic dancers and fewer were told that they would be prostituted. No one was told that upon arriving in Israel their documents would be confiscated and they would be bought, raped, and transported to brothels where they would service between 15 to 20 men a day.

By the late 1990’s, sex trafficking to Israel had reached such dizzying heights that the world began to take notice. In 2001, the US State Department released its first Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report and ranked Israel as a Tier 3 Nation – the report’s lowest possible ranking. A Tier 3 country is defined by its high level of trafficking and its failure to take significant strides to combat it.

Israel’s ranking was a public shaming at the hands of its most prominent ally. Moreover, it carried potentially massive economic consequences. According to the U.S.’s Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, Tier 3 nations would be subjected to strict economic sanctions. As Israel receives $3.1 billion in annual assistance from the U.S., the fallout would have been explosive.

The TIP Report and increasing pressure from NGOs, such as ATZUM’s Task Force on Human Trafficking, served as a catalyst for change. Since its Tier 3 ranking, Israel has passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, which imposes a maximum 16-year sentence upon traffickers. The Ministry of Welfare also began to operate two shelters for trafficking victims and Israel established SAAR, an anti-trafficking police unit.

Thanks in part to these measures, government and non-governmental sources agree that sex trafficking in Israel has been reduced. Yet, though Israel was recently awarded Tier 1 status, many would argue that it has not gone far enough in its efforts to reduce sex trafficking and prostitution. In 2011, SAAR was disbanded, and many victims of trafficking find themselves in prison instead shelters because the two state-funded shelters are overflowing.

Moreover, while Israel recognizes sex trafficking as a serious crime, it still considers prostitution to be a choice made by some women. This attitude flies in the face of reality. According to Saleet, a hostel for prostituted women in Tel Aviv, the average age of entrance into prostitution in Israel is 14, and “coincidentally” 90 percent of prostituted persons are victims of incest, rape, and abuse. This past February, Israel’s Ministerial Committee nearly brought Israel one step closer to eradicating prostitution when it unanimously approved legislation that would have prohibited the purchase of sexual services and decriminalized the provider. This legislation had the potential to drastically reduce demand and assist the 15,000-prostituted persons, a third of whom are children, trapped in Israel’s sex trade. However, it was ultimately not passed into law.

Prostitution and trafficking have been a shameful part of Israel’s narrative for far too long. In order to continue to move forward, Israel must recognize prostitution, as well as sex trafficking, as the form of modern slavery that it is.

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Comments

[Atheodox Jew]

It's hard to know who to be more disgusted by - the organized crime rings who profit from people's misery, the sleazy customers who create a demand for 14-year-old girls, the parents who encourage their daughters to go into prostitution to make a buck, or the Jewish State for allowing this to go on.

[ruthie]

david,

every city has its secrets.
that said, i hope help comes to these women.

[I can't think of a name yet]

Prostitution and gay marriage should be legalized, because two consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want.

On the other hand, sex trafficking, rape, and abortion should be illegal. The victim didn't give permission to be trafficked, raped, or aborted.

[Bas Melech]

About 10 or so years ago, a national tv news program broadcast an investigative report on Israeli prostitution. Cameras showed chaedi men to be among the clients. At one time the locals ran the industry, but now in Israel as in Europe, Eastern Europeans operate the forced sex industry. In Israel there are charedi operated brothels (not exclusively for charedim).

[Yochanan Lavie]

Tel Aviv is much worse than a sin city. It's a place where Jews actually work... (sarcasm)

[Adam Neira]

Two excellent films on this issue are...

"The Whistleblower"

- The story of Kathryn Bolkovac.

"The Jammed"

- A story about the Australian sex slave/prostitution trade.

People who glibly justify the practise of prostitution by saying it is "The World's Oldest Trade" are a real problem. A perfected world, i.e. Ganeden or the Messianic Era, does not include prostitution. It is one the many scourges globally that need to be eradicated over time.

[Jeff]

"Tel Aviv, city of sin. Haven for gays and seculars.

Posted by: David | May 07, 2013 at 06:29 AM"

And Jerusalem is a haven for brain-dead fundamentalists.

[Dan Lekafzchus]

And Jerusalem is a haven for brain-dead fundamentalists.

Posted by: Jeff | May 07, 2013 at 09:13 AM

...and this blog is a haven for brain-dead, pathetic, hate-filled, @$$hole losers

[Scottie Boy]

Jeff: "And Jerusalem is a haven for brain-dead fundamentalists."

I used to abhor your hateful posts. Now, I just feel sorry for you. I have no idea what your back-round is, but it's so sad that you hate Orthodox Jews just by virtue of them being Orthodox. Honestly, what's the difference between you and neo-nazis who hate Jews just because they're Jewish?

[Crayon Shin-chan]

"Prostitution and gay marriage should be legalized, because two consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want.

On the other hand, sex trafficking, rape, and abortion should be illegal. The victim didn't give permission to be trafficked, raped, or aborted."

Words of Gold!

I just would add that Gay Marriage is an issue of equal rights not consent.

[Reese]

Does anyone else remember the case in Brooklyn many years ago, where a Charedi stabbed his pregnant wife to death in front of their small children. The reason, he fell in love with a prostitute and wanted to MARRY HER!

[David]

"Tel Aviv, city of sin. Haven for gays and seculars.

Posted by: David | May 07, 2013 at 06:29 AM"

And Jerusalem is a haven for brain-dead fundamentalists.

Posted by: Jeff | May 07, 2013 at 09:13 AM

That was the imposter David, not I, the regular one.

[Bas Melech]

other David=

FYI- The sex trade is alive and thriving in Jerusalem too.

[Abracadabra]

David - Why not use "David I" or "David the First" or something else other than "David." Other people are bound to use "David."

[three_oaths]

Saleet is an advocacy organization, so how do we know that it is not biased against prostitution and with its own agenda? Shmarya, Adam Neira, and others who dream of the state being able to wipe out prostitution by a stroke of the legislative pen are just as deluded, uninformed, or out-of-touch with reality as the people who support wars on drugs or other consensual vices.

Instead of taking the statements of people and groups like Saleet at face value, and assuming that hookers are all coerced and exploited, why don't you research another country or area where prostitution is fully legal and above ground--such as Holland, France, Colombia, & rural Nevada--and see for yourselves how prostitutes are generally mature adults who are fully informed, enjoy their work, and HAVE LEGAL REDRESS AGAINST ABUSIVE CUSTOMERS AND BOSSES. You could also see for yourselves why banning prostitution is a horrible idea that never ever works by watching the episode on prostitution featured on Penn & Teller's old show "Bullshit".

Just like in the War on Drugs, banning prostitution will do nothing except create a black market which will be dominated by people who are uninhibited about using violence to protect their turf or enforce contracts. The police will be corrupted by the huge amounts of money that can be doled out in bribes. People will have weakened protection against arbitrary searches & seizures. The police can take people's property more easily. The brothel owners will have fewer incentives to have their employees regularly tested for STD's or receive regular medical exams, given the legal risks. And the prisons will be overcrowded with pimps, whores, madams, and johns, instead of real criminals who violate people's rights to person & property and who are more menacing to society. Why would a War on Prostitution not result in these same aforementioned consequences as the Drug War?

All that said, perhaps a better way to stop "sex slavery" would be for the government to regulate the sex trade and strictly enforce compliance with an age restriction of at least 18.

[Jeff]

"I used to abhor your hateful posts. Now, I just feel sorry for you. I have no idea what your back-round is, but it's so sad that you hate Orthodox Jews just by virtue of them being Orthodox. Honestly, what's the difference between you and neo-nazis who hate Jews just because they're Jewish?

Posted by: Scottie Boy | May 07, 2013 at 12:41 PM "

You have nothing of substance to say apart from your mindless criticism of Scott, who is killing himself (pointlessly, I feel) in an attempt to rescue Judaism from the likes of useless, shit-for-brains parasites such as yourself.

You feel sorry for me? I feel nothing but loathing and contempt for you and your ilk. I object to your very existence. Every moment you draw breath is a chillul hashem.

[zionist goy]

If Israel continues to foster the worst of the world's foibles, i strongly believe that the covenant protection will be affected. Jews weren't brought back into the land from diaspora to have whore houses and gays dancing in the streets.

[spaced out BT]

How about a new idea? Jewish men take the Torah seriously and stop patronising these establishments?

[just saying]

MAkes me laugh to think how Israelis will say you can only be truly religious and spiritual in Israel. It's in America on 47th street where all the wife swapping goes on they claim... But in Israel, men dont go to prostitutes bc the girls are Jewish...

Its the same all over. Those who want to find it, will find it. Legal or not. Call it prostitute or mistress... and how many guys bought a girl dinner with the sole intention to just know her for the night and never see her again?

[flailed]

"Prostitution in the Holy Land has a long history that stretches back to before Israel’s founding in 1948."

Actually, it stretches back way further than that. The future Mashiach is said to come from just such a holy union.

[Audrey the Liberal]

If prostitution were legal, this $#!t would be less likely.