700 escort services in Israel employ 3,000 women as prostitutes. Over 80% of the women have foreign citizenship, and were sold to Israeli pimps for $4,000-7,500 each, according to figures presented at Israel's first ever law enforcement convention on the subject held in Jerusalem today.
Israel Police chief of investigations Cmdr. Moshe Mizrahi defined the trade in women as typical organized crime and a modern form of slavery.
Tel Aviv District Attorney Miriam Rosenthal claimed prosecutors have to plea bargain with pimps to prevent the judicial system from collapsing. Deputy Minister of Public Security Gideon Ezra infuriated the participants when he said, referring to the trade in women, "We have a burning problem. I wish it were our only problem."
Police figures reveal that the price of a woman brought to Israel is $4,000-7,500, depending on physical beauty and aesthetic defects.
Belying reports by Amnesty International and the US Department of State that place Israel on the blacklist of countries not doing enough to combat the trade in human beings, Mizrahi said, "We're not the main target on the world map, but a minor one."
In the first half of the year, Israel Police opened 146 files on prostitution and the trade in women. During this period, 23 cases of trade in women for the purpose of prostitution were discovered, and 15 key suspects were arrested pending proceedings.
Figures by Kav La'Oved, the workers' rights hotline, reveal that the usual age range of women brought to Israel for prostitution is 18-23, and that 46% of the women come from the Ukraine and 28% from Russia. 90% of the women enter Israel through Egypt.
Kav La'Oved states that pimps promise the women coming to Israel a monthly wage of $1,000, which is not actually paid. Many of the women admitted they work 16-18 hours a day, servicing at least ten clients.
Figures provided by prostitutes held in police detention show that most clients are Israelis, with Arabs, foreign workers, and tourists also frequenting the prostitutes.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 31 July 2001