Landmark Tel Aviv Strip Club Gets Eviction Order
The Pussycat, which has long been strongly suspected of housing a brothel, 'encourages the abuse of women and is a nuisance to neighbors in the vicinity'
Vered Lee
Analysis Israel's Law Against Prostitution Heralds a New Era of Gender Equality
It's not as harsh as Sweden's legislation, but after years of a wink from the police and the legal system, the new approach has a chance to smash Israel's sex industry
‘I Feel Like an Ashtray’ Prostitution Survivors' Poems on Display in Tel Aviv Tell Stories of Hardship and Hope
Vika, who turned to prostitution to feed her hungry daughter, says she started writing 'to break free' while coming off of drugs
Analysis Criminal Neglect: The Israeli Government Is Complicit in the Murder of Arab Women
There are only two shelters for Arab women, lawmakers are dragging their feet, police are underperforming and above it all a cloud of racism hangs
In One of Tel Aviv's Shadiest Areas, Turning Stripping Into Art
Pole dancers performing in strip clubs, dancers without faces, women in painful articles of clothing – a recent exhibition presented the dehumanizing nature of sex work, and did so in one of the Tel Aviv compounds where the industry still thrives
Analysis Murder of 12-year-old Girl Shows Human Rights in Israel Are Only for Jews
The asylum-seeker community in Israel is in a state of crisis and its women and teenage girls are paying an increasingly heavy price
Israeli Aid Arriving for Bedouin Rape Victims Is Kept Secret for Their Own Sake
In one case, which is by no means rare, Yasmin tells of a 15-year old shepherd girl who fell pregnant after being gang-raped, without being aware of the pregnancy
Israel to Classify Lap Dances at Strip Clubs as Prostitution
State Prosecutor's office issues new directive clamping down on such activities in the country's strip clubs, stating that under some circumstances dances could be considered an illegal 'act of prostitution'
Analysis New Israeli Bill Fining Prostitution Clients May Change Thousands of Women's Lives
The government-sponsored bill does not go as far as the Swedish model, which criminalizes johns, but it is a positive step forward
Analysis New Sex Work Bill Goes Too Easy on Clients
In choosing fines rather than criminalization, Israeli Justice Minister is hiding behind the failures of other, flopped, anti-prostitution laws
Opinion Miri Regev Found Another Enemy: Bedouin Women With Cameras
It’s hard to believe that the culture minister perceives a threat from women who have learned, for the first time, to hold a camera and look at the reality of their lives
Opinion Israel Must Help Asylum Seekers Trapped in the Sex Industry
Human rights in Israel cannot be restricted to Jewish women only
'I Thought Tel Aviv Was Open, but Nothing Prepared Me for This'
Meet Natasha, the transgender former prostitute who has begun to heal through 'Turning the Tables,' a therapeutic organization where she 'found myself creating rather than destroying for the first time'
The Darfuri Asylum Seeker in Israel Who Takes Refuge in Writing
Adam Ahmed fled the massacre in Sudan in 2004 and survived a bloodbath in Egypt, yet is afraid to walk the streets of Tel Aviv. His memoir takes readers on an insightful journey into life in exile
Israel Working to Deport Victim of Human Trafficking
'Sofia' was lured to Israel and forced into sex work; now separated from her son’s Israeli father, she faces expulsion
Man Suspected of Killing Prostitute in Tel Aviv With Date-rape Drug While With a Second Prostitute
Police believe he sought services of another prostitute instead of getting help, and the delay caused woman’s death
Analysis Maybe Yairs Tape Will Hasten His Dad to Criminalize the Clients of Prostitutes
What will it take to speed up the advancement of legislation to criminalize the clients of prostitution and the rehabilitation of those working in prostitution?
Empty Streets and Locked Doors: Prostitution Is Disappearing From Tel Aviv's Underbelly
Real estate projects at the old central bus station, a stronger police presence and a bill incriminating customers are changing the area for the better
Opinion How Israel's Tourism Industry Enables Prostitution and Human Trafficking
Often pimps and crime organizations prefer to use hotels as a substitute for brothels to blur their involvement and evade the enforcement authorities
Eritrean Asylum Seekers in Israel Increasingly Turning to Prostitution
Many of the women survived torture in Sinai and are single mothers in Israel with no support from the state
Opinion A Courageous Move to Strip 'Sex Entertainment' Down to Its Bare, Ugly Bones
With her firm, feminist ruling to shut down a strip joint, a Tel Aviv judge has exposed the hellish, demeaning reality of the sex industry and the euphemisms used to whitewash it
Operators of Israeli Internet Site Selling Sexual Services Hit With Rare Indictment
Nina Pirshet, who ran the site and received millions of shekels from pimps and sex workers, also tried to persuade women to become prostitutes
10 Indicted for Running One of Israel's Biggest Brothels, in Tel Aviv
Eight of those arrested are women; their two brothels had an estimated total income in excess of $28 million over several years
Hiring Bias, Lack of Role Models Lead More Israeli Transgender Women Into Sex Work, at a Younger Age
Rotem hit the streets when she was only 14 ■ Carol fears the police ■ Melanie wants a normal job, but no one will hire her ■ Heartbreaking stories from the street
Dead at 21: From a Gang Rape at a Tel Aviv Club at 17 to a Life of Prostitution and Addiction
M. died of an overdose on a busy Friday morning, bypassers sidestepping her prone body. A charity worker who befriended the 21-year-old says women in prostitution continue dying far from society’s gaze.
The Pioneering Writer Giving Voice to Israel's Oppressed
After 70 years of writing, a collection of essays exploring the oeuvre of Sami Michael has finally been published. It takes us back to the source, to the pellucid waters of the spring from which Israeli protest literature still drinks.
Opinion Invisible in Israel on a Bed of Cardboard
Homeless man near Tel Aviv central bus station: 'Anyone who thinks that homeless people are on the streets by choice and out of an urge for adventure is a romantic who is cut off from reality.'
Opinion B’Tselem Was Right to Turn to the UN
Throughout all its years of existence, the human rights NGO has tried to create a dialogue with Israeli society and the Israeli media, but has suffered from jaded reactions, alienation and incitement.
As Prostitution Goes Online, Clients Come Out of the Shadows
Abuse more, pay less: The internet is the new pimp.
The Only 'Choice' in Prostitution Is That of the Customers
The prostitution scene illustrates the abusive and destructive balance of power between consumers and those caught up in its vicious cycle.