Your typical Israeli human-trafficker is a 40-year-old man, originally from the Soviet Union, married, with one child, with no criminal record, and is an "asset" to the community. This is the portrait drawn by attorney Naomi Levenkorn, of the Hotline for Migrant Workers, in a ground-breaking report issued Monday: "Another shipment from Tashkent - Outline of the Israeli Trafficker in Women."
The Hotline report is based on the case files of 325 traffickers brought to trial since 1992. These include their police interrogations, verdicts that have yet to be published, interviews with police officers and victims of trafficking, as well as the testimony of traffickers and lawyers who appeared before Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On's parliamentary committee on trafficking in women.
Much has been written over the years about the women who are bought and sold for the sex industry, but this is the first time an attempt has been made to depict those who trade in them. Traffickers' backgrounds differ greatly - one was an Israeli karate champion, another the son of a Holocaust survivor - but there are common elements.
At least 70 percent were born in the former Soviet Union, and 90 percent are men. Some 10 percent of traffickers are women, 19 percent of them prostitutes. Some of the women were no less cruel than the men. Irina Fishman, for example, prevented one of her victims from sleeping for three days because she was considered tardy in carrying out her cleaning duties.
The average age of the traffickers on trial was 40, but some had got a very early start - Yaniv Azran, for example, was a soldier in compulsory service.
Nearly 70 percent were married or had a live-in partner, which did not keep them from raping their victims. Semion Doshker, for example, was tried along with his wife and lover, and it turned out that he had also raped some of the women he trafficked. In more than one instance, the rape was presented in the court's minutes as "an admissions test" or "vetting the merchandise."
A breakdown of the data shows that 42 percent of those in the trade have one child, and 28 percent have two children. Some of the children were partners in the "business."
Almost half of the traffickers had no prior criminal record. The list includes the owner of a candy store in the Opera House building in South Tel Aviv, a taxi driver, an employee in the food industry, an instructor at a fitness center, an ice-cream truck driver, and the owner of a furniture store. Nine traffickers had served in the Israel Defense Forces, and three of them had been recognized as disabled veterans.
The report also looked into how traffickers spent their leisure time. One of them, who was charged with beating women with a whip and stick, had volunteered with the police and was involved in raising a pet iguana. Another made contributions to a staff party for the prison wardens association, a Hanukkah ball at the French immigrants society and a gala dance for the parents of the school at Kibbutz Deganya.
