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C S E C

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to 2025                                    gvnet.com/childprostitution/Israel.htm

State of Israel

Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial, though diminishing, government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain but is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Description: Description: Israel

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Israel.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false.   No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and how some succeed in leaving.  Perhaps your paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their leaving.  Other factors of interest might be poverty, rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction, hunger, neglect, etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who control this activity.  There is a lot to the subject of Child Prostitution.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

*** FEATURED ARTICLE ***

Panel Hears Grim Details On Child Prostitution In Israel

Zvi Zrahiya & Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz, 09.02.2004

www.haaretz.com/news/panel-hears-grim-details-on-child-prostitution-in-israel-1.113459

[accessed 2 June  2011]

Over 1,000 minors around the country are involved in prostitution, with their parent's encouragement, the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee heard Monday. Dorit Brightman of the ELEM Youth in Distress non-profit organization told the committee that many of the minors are forced into prostitution because of the dire economic situation, and some have even died as a result.

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

Runaways - Where To Turn For Help Before You Are Homeless

Rebeccas Community -- This is for anyone aged up to 13 years old who is thinking about running away

www.homeless.org.au/runaways.htm

[accessed 1 June 2011]

Here are the best phone numbers to call …They are Confidential - which means they won't tell anyone about your call unless you want them to talk to somebody for you, or you are in danger.  They are open 24 Hours - it doesn't matter what time you call  In Israel, call 1-800-65-4111

ECPAT Country Monitoring Report [PDF]

ECPAT International, 2016

www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Ex_Summary_Israel_FINAL.pdf

[accessed 31 August 2020]

Desk review of existing information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in Israel. The report looks at protection mechanisms, responses, preventive measures, child and youth participation in fighting SEC, and makes recommendations for action against SEC.

Human Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 10, 2020

www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/israel/

[accessed 31 August 2020]

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The law prohibits sexual exploitation of a minor and sets a penalty of seven to 20 years in prison for violators, depending on the circumstances. The law prohibits the possession of child pornography (by downloading) and accessing such material (by streaming). Authorities enforced the law. The Ministry of Public Security operated a hotline to receive complaints of activities that seek to harm children online, such as bullying, dissemination of hurtful materials, extortion, sexual abuse, and pressure to commit suicide.

The minimum age for consensual sex is 16. Consensual sexual relations with a minor between the ages of 14 and 16 constitute statutory rape punishable by five years’ imprisonment.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 4 October 2002

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/israel2002.html

[accessed 28 February 2011]

[60] The Committee notes the establishment of an inter-ministerial and inter-organizational committee to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of minors, its activities, and the involvement of non-governmental organizations in this area. However, the Committee is concerned that these and other efforts have so far had a limited impact.

Suspect in Tel Aviv pedophile case ran child prostitution ring

Yuval Goren, Haaretz, 27.01.2009

www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/suspect-in-tel-aviv-pedophile-case-ran-child-prostitution-ring-1.268915

[accessed 2 June  2011]

Police said Monday that the main suspect used to stalk children and youths near clubs in Tel Aviv, such as the TLV club at the Tel Aviv Port. When he detected youths with sexual-identity issues he, "took them under his wing" and turned them into prostitutes, a police source said, on the basis of gathered testimonies.   He pimped the youths to pedophiles for NIS 200 at a time, the source said.   The police Monday confronted the Internet executive and the principle victim in the case, who turned 17 Tuesday. Another minor, 14, told the detectives that the executive had been sexually abusing him since he was 12 years old.

10% percent of Israeli prostitutes are minors

Ruth Eglash, The Jerusalem Post, 07/23/2008

www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=108698

[accessed 2 June  2011]

The age of those being forced into the sex industry is rapidly falling, with more than 1,000 out of the estimated 10,000 prostitutes in Israel being minors, according to statistics collected this year by counter-trafficking non-governmental organization, the Task Force on Human Trafficking (TFHT).

These figures, which are based on the findings of numerous non-governmental and official sources, were presented Wednesday at a special session of the Knesset Sub-Committee on Human Trafficking - headed by Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On - focusing on a new Education Ministry initiative aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of the sex industry in general and human trafficking in particular among school-age children. TFHT's report also noted a new trend of 13 and 14 year olds frequenting prostitutes.

Earlier in the session, the minister had referred to the rise in media reports of children, some as young as 11 or 12, using cellphones to capture graphic sexual incidents on camera and stories of teens pimping out their peers for cash. Tamir said that the goal of the program, which started work six months ago, was to combat such incidents and to provide teachers with the educational tools to raise awareness of right and wrong among teens.

Israeli Project Aids Teens, Young Prostitutes

Brenda Gazzar, Womens enews WeNews, January 6, 2006

www.womensenews.org/story/prostitution-and-trafficking/060106/israeli-project-aids-teens-young-prostitutes

[accessed 2 June  2011]

Natalee didn't realize it then, but Fridman directs a therapeutic rehabilitation program for adolescents engaged in prostitution run by the nonprofit organization, Elem Youth in Distress in Israel. Her Tel Aviv-based program, Awake at Night, offers a supportive day center, a hot line, community outreach, medical care and close contact with mentors and professionals for youth and young adults who have sold or are selling sex.

Five Years After Stockholm [PDF]

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action

ECPAT International, November 2001

www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf

[accessed 13 September 2011]

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – ISRAEL – The Israeli Association for Social Care, Health and the Solution of Conflict (IASC) has developed a project in which workers are trained to counsel street children, many of whom are involved in prostitution. However, IASC experienced some official administrative as well as financial problems in the implementation of this project.  Another major project has been implemented by the organization ELEM-Youth. In January 2001 the pilot project “They Too Have a Right to Blossom” officially began. In addition to learning about CSEC, which is the primary focus of the program at this point, ELEM has identified children who are currently involved in prostitution, and begun the process of assisting them through referrals to community based youth services for treatment.

Mothers pimping their daughters for food

Gaon Boaz, Maariv, Feb. 29, 2004

www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message509882/pg1

[accessed 2 June  2011]

theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2004/02/mothers-pimping-their-daughters-for-food.html

[accessed 10 November 2016]

Down-and-out women come to the Beer Sheva market late at night to scrounge for some pumpkin or marrow. Lacking shekels, they offer an alternative form of payment, their teenage daughters. After providing sexual services in some dark alley, daughters and mothers disappear into the night laden with parcels of produce.

Live & Learn - Rehabilitating Israeli Youth

www.learnandlive.org.il/

[accessed 9 May 2012]

40% of Israeli youth live below the poverty line

More than 70,000 Israeli youth are regular drug users.

Israel has seen a 20% increase in drug-related crimes involving minors, as well as an increase in violent incidents in schools.

More than 25% of homeless youth in Israel are female, with many drawn into the sex industry as a means of survival.

5.1 Middle East - State of CSEC/ Attitudes toward CSEC [PDF]

1999-2000 Looking Back, Thinking Forward

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 2 June  2011]

While Israel, Jordan and Lebanon indicate a tacit willingness to address the issue, the majority of the countries in the region have not conducted research and deny the possibility that children are being sexually exploited for commercial purposes.  Open discussions of sex related issues are regarded as a social taboo thus further explaining the lack of research and acknowledgement of CSEC.  While the extent of child prostitution in the Middle East region is unknown, anecdotal evidence indicates that there is a large problem in selected areas of the region.

 

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

 

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61690.htm

[accessed 9 February 2020]

CHILDREN - In February 2004 ELEM, an NGO that assists troubled youth, estimated that more than a thousand women younger than age 18 worked as prostitutes.

All material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.  PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.  Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution - Israel", http://gvnet.com/childprostitution/Israel.htm, [accessed <date>]

 

 

ELEM :Youth in Distress - Israel

Kehilat Saloniki #7

Neot Afeka, Tel-Aviv 69513, Israel

Tel: 972-3-6470049, Fax: 972-3-6470319

 

ISHA L`ISHA - Haifa Feminist Center

47,Hillel Street

Haifa 33727

Tel: +972-4-8530159, Fax:+972-4-8511954

Email: ishahfc@netvision.net.il

 

Kol Ha-Isha - The Woman`s Voice

38 Ben Yehuda St.

P.O. BOX 37157

Jerusalem 91371

Tel : +972-2-6222455, Fax: +972-2-6256187

Email: kolisha@netmedia.net.il