Israel bans sex services and pardons prostitutes

In January 2021, Israel become one of the first countries to enforce a ban on the use of prostitutes, and also announced a program to cancel the criminal records of convicted prostitutes.

Israel is one of the world’s most progressive countries on the issue of prostitution, along with Sweden, Canada, France and Ireland. The new law bans the use of prostitutes and imposes heavy fines on clients who purchase their services, criminalizing all who are involved in the criminal chain of prostitution, trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The law forbidding the use of prostitutes in Israel is a temporary law that will take effect for five years, allowing for its impact to be studied. It also requires the state to offer rehabilitation to people trapped in the prostitution industry, encouraging them to seek other sources of income to restore their dignity. Also included in the new law is the opportunity for offenders to accept treatment for their addiction to the use of prostitutes.

Rescuing Prostitutes in Israel

Israeli law does not criminalize prostitutes but regards them as victims in the eyes of the law. This may tip the balance of power in their favor and enable them to use the law against abusive clients and pimps.

Announcing a retrospective pardon to prostitutes convicted in the past, Israel’s President Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin, said:  “The law prohibiting use of sex services is a message to the Israeli public, men and women and young people. The message is that women’s bodies are not a commodity. Women’s souls are not a commodity. Sex for pay is not about sexual relations. Sex for pay is an exploitative relationship that has no place in our society – a society that values equality and respect for every man and woman from every sector and every part of society.”

Rivlin said prostitution was a form of “violence against women. Fighting the use of sex services is part of the fight against violence against women, part of the fight against the notion that people can use the body and soul of someone else, of women, and do with them what they will as if they were objects to be purchased for money.”

While he said he did not understand what women forced by circumstances to engage in prostitution have undergone, he said he knows that “life in prostitution means daily, unbearable exposure to violence, poverty, addiction and exploitation… This is life on the brink of death, on the edge of surrender. To break this cycle of pain, which sometimes seems never-ending, with no horizon, requires enormous mental strength.”

Even though rehabilitation and reentering the workforce may be a difficult task fraught with trauma and stigma, those who want to flee the degrading cycle of human trafficking will take the opportunity to have their crimes erased and begin new lives. It is our duty as a country, as a society, to help rehabilitate sex workers and to prevent those at risk from exposure to the crises that lead them to it.”

Offering Pardons

The use of pardons is “one of the most important elements of the role of president of the State of Israel,” Rivlin said, adding: “I wanted to give every citizen of Israel, from all groups and tribes, the possibility to correct mistakes. People can change their direction, put the past behind them and turn over a new page. We should all have the chance to ask for forgiveness, an opportunity to change our minds, to accept pardon and consolation.”

Israel was one of the first countries to pass legislation against human trafficking in the 2000s, and this law has not only raised awareness of the issue but it has been successfully enforced. Critics say that these measures may drive prostitution overseas – an issue highlighted recently by the rush of Israelis to Dubai, one of the world’s prostitution capitals. The Israel government has also committed to take steps in the future to criminalize the use of prostitutes overseas by Israeli citizens.

Violence Against Women

Rivlin said prostitution was a form of “violence against women. Fighting the use of sex services is part of the fight against violence against women, part of the fight against the notion that people can use the body and soul of someone else, of women, and do with them what they will as if they were objects to be purchased for money.”

While he said he did not understand what women forced by circumstances to engage in prostitution have undergone, he said he knows that “life in prostitution means daily, unbearable exposure to violence, poverty, addiction and exploitation… This is life on the brink of death, on the edge of surrender. To break this cycle of pain, which sometimes seems never-ending, with no horizon, requires enormous mental strength.”

Even though rehabilitation and reentering the workforce may be a difficult task fraught with trauma and stigma, those who want to flee the degrading cycle of human trafficking will take the opportunity to have their crimes erased and begin new lives, Rivlin said. “It is our duty as a country, as a society, to help rehabilitate sex workers and to prevent those at risk from exposure to the crises that lead them to it,” he said.

The use of pardons is “one of the most important elements of the role of president of the State of Israel,” Rivlin said, adding: “I wanted to give every citizen of Israel, from all groups and tribes, the possibility to correct mistakes. People can change their direction, put the past behind them and turn over a new page. We should all have the chance to ask for forgiveness, an opportunity to change our minds, to accept pardon and consolation.”

International Trafficking & Prostitution

Israel was one of the first countries to pass legislation against human trafficking in the 2000s, and this law has not only raised awareness of the issue but it has been successfully enforced. Critics say that these measures may drive prostitution overseas – an issue highlighted recently by the rush of Israelis to Dubai, one of the world’s prostitution capitals. The Israel government has also committed to take steps in the future to criminalize the use of prostitutes overseas by Israeli citizens.