The smuggling of women into Israel for prostitution has dropped dramatically,
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told the Knesset’s Committee for
Combating Women Trafficking on Monday.
“Every victim is unnecessary, but
since 2006 women trafficking has been reduced drastically,” the minister said,
citing a 2010 State Department report on the issue.
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police have not managed to decrease women trafficking for the illegal labor
market.
Aharonovitch also remained concerned about sexual offenses and
exploitation of minors on the Internet. He described the latter phenomenon as
“sad and disgraceful,” and said police would do “all it could” to eliminate
them.
The committee also discussed the issue of sums paid by African
migrants to Beduin who take them across Egypt and into
Israel.
Aharonvitch said he was aware of a $3,000 fee charged by the
smugglers.
But attorney Rahel Gershoni, of the Justice Ministry’s
anti-human trafficking office, said the sums reached astronomical levels, such
as $30,000. She based her figures on 70 interviews with African
migrants.
“Recently, because of the [border] fence [being built on the
Israel-Egyptian border], the sum is falling,” she added.
Gershoni praised
the police’s work in combating people smuggling, noting that American officials
who deal with the same issue were invited to Israel to examine Israeli
enforcement.