A message from ATZUM and the Task Force On Human Trafficking:
Anna (not her real name) heard that there are people who arrange work in Israel where you could earn $1000 a month. She was desperate - her husband had left her in Uzbekistan and she had no job. After being smuggled across the Egyptian border she was taken to a hotel in Tel Aviv where she was shoved into the trunk of the vehicle and driven to her new owner, who explained to her that she owed him thousands of dollars for her transport here. She was told that she would see no less than 25 clients a day, that she could never refuse, and that she would be paid 10 shekel per client. Anna was held captive repeatedly raped and beaten, and deprived of her basic human rights.
According to a recent Knesset Report, there are thousands of women like Anna in Israel at any given time. They are sold into sexual slavery at "auctions" for $8000-10,000. These women, 23 yrs old on average, are raped, abused, incarcerated and threatened, "servicing" 15-25 clients over 14-18 hrs a day, 7 days a week. The women become indentured slaves with an ever growing debt to their owners. Israeli men of all walks of life pay approximately 1,000,000 visits to brothels per month and the profits from this illicit activity are estimated at 750 million dollars annually.
Take action now to ensure that more women like Anna are not victims and demand that the Israeli government take action against this problem and prosecute traffickers. Please join me in signing the petition against human trafficking in Israel. Email it to as many friends and colleagues as you can and ask them to sign it and then pass it on. Let's each have a goal in mind of getting at least nine other people-a minyan- to sign it. …
[Hat Tip: Luke's friend Robert J. Avrech.]