A majority of Israelis oppose proposed legislation which would make paying for sexual services a criminal offense punishable with a prison sentence or community service, according to a Dahaf Institute poll commissioned by the Knesset Channel released on Wednesday.

While only 34 percent of respondents said they supported the bill, which passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum last week, 59 percent answered that they oppose the proposed legislation.

Respondents to the survey were split on the bill's effectiveness in decreasing prostitution. Half of those polled believe that if the bill were passed into law, men would continue to frequent prostitutes at the same rate, whereas 42 percent of respondents thought that the law would cause a decrease in the number of visits men make to prostitutes.

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