Prostitutes convince Knesset to withdraw legalization proposal
Committee on Status of Women decides to rescind bill proposal to institutionalize prostitution following shocking testimony of former sex industry workers at debate
Knesset Member Elhanan Glazer (Pensioners Party) announced Monday that he would withdraw a bill proposal seeking to legalize prostitution in Israel.
Committee chairwoman, MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz), welcomed Glazer's decision to withdraw the bill from the committee's agenda and called the move "an important step to prevent the legitimization of heinous offenses tied to prostitution and pimping."
Glazer's decision was born out of the painfully candid testimonies of two former sex industry workers who were brought to the debate held by the Knesset Committee on the Status of Woman to discuss the bill.
The special session, which also drew the participation of women's rights organizations, centered on the testimony of "Rachel" before the Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women regarding her experiences as a prostitute.
"Most of the women who do this went through terrible abuse as young girls. Any woman who sinks to this feels nothing, she surrenders her body and escapes through drugs," said Rachel, who told the Knesset members she herself was sexually abused as a child and, ignored by her family and social services, began working in the industry at a young age.
Committee hearing testimonies on Monday (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Though she has not worked in the sex industry for 11 years, Rachel said it was still her dream to establish a special home for prostitutes seeking to rehabilitate their lives.
Rachel vehemently objects to the bill proposal, saying that institutionalizing prostitution would only lead more women to sell their bodies.
'They said it would be easy money'
The second woman who testified before the committee said she had only stopped working in the sex industry two months ago. She came to Israel from the former Soviet Union over 11 years ago but six months ago her daughter fell ill and she said she did not know how to seek help, also due to the language barrier.The witness recalled her first visit to a brothel, after seeing a newspaper advertisement promising "easy money for an easy job."
"I didn't know what would happen. The first time I came I sat in front of the client and suddenly I told myself that I just can't do it and I just ran. But when I got home I realized that there was no choice and the
next day I came back, I just forced myself to go," she said.
"I sat there with my head hung low and a client came and picked me. That was the moment where I broke and became a different person," she said and dissolved into tears.
"A person who works as a prostitute is trying to overcome the shame, they are lying to themselves in an effort to repress it, to say you can get used to this, but you can't"
