Prostitution in Israel is legal, but organized prostitution in the form of brothels and pimping is prohibited.

According to the findings of a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee appointed in 2005, 3000-5000 women are smuggled into Israel annually and sold into prostitution. Most of the prostitutes come from Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan, China and Russia, and many are smuggled through Egypt.

In 2003, Israel passed a law that would allow the state to confiscate the profits of traffickers, but watchdog groups claim it is rarely enforced. In 2007, a report by the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women reported that in recent years the number of trafficked women had dropped to less than 1,000.

In 2007, the United States State Department placed Israel as a "Tier 2" in its annual Trafficking in Persons reports, meaning that it does not fully comply with the standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.

References

External links

• We must address Israeli prostitution as our problem
• Protection Project
• Court rescinds ruling funding disabled man's brothel visits
• The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality
• Israel-Coalition Against Trafficking in Women