This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 001337 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP: SALLY NEUMANN; NEA/RA: JOHN MENARD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB IS ISRAELI SOCIETY GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: ISRAEL: FIFTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT 
(2 OF 3) 
 
REF: SECSTATE 273089 
 
(SBU) This cable is the second part of a three-part message 
responding to reftel.  Embassy point of contact is Jenifer 
Joyce, telephone number: 972-3-519-7437 and fax number: 
972-3-519-7484. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶A.  Does the country have a law specifically prohibiting 
trafficking in persons -- both trafficking for sexual 
exploitation and trafficking for non-sexual purposes (e.g., 
forced labor)?  If so, what is the law?  Does the law(s) 
cover both internal and external (transnational) forms of 
trafficking?  If not, under what other laws can traffickers 
be prosecuted?  For example, are there laws against slavery 
or the exploitation of prostitution by means of coercion or 
fraud?  Are these other laws being used in trafficking cases? 
 Are these laws, taken together, adequate to cover the full 
scope of trafficking in persons? 
 
Section 203(a) of the penal law, enacted in July 2000, 
prohibits trafficking in persons for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation.  According to the GOI, an indictment based on 
trafficking might also include charges such as rape, false 
imprisonment, retaining a passport, forced labor, 
exploitation of prostitution by means of coercion or fraud, 
or kidnapping for the purposes of prostitution.  Judgments 
have typically reflected a narrow interpretation of the law, 
but court cases rendered in the summer of 2003 clarified that 
trafficking cases should not be narrowly construed. 
Exploitation is prohibited under section 431 of the Penal Law 
and is punishable by one year imprisonment.  Withholding a 
passport is punishable by section 376A of the Penal Law and 
is punishable by one year imprisonment.  Section 376 of the 
Penal Law prohibits forced labor and is punishable by one 
year imprisonment, but an amendment to this law to include 
trafficking in persons for labor, which would be punishable 
by up to ten years imprisonment, is currently being drafted. 
Fraud is prohibited by Sections 415 and 440 of the Penal Law 
and is punishable by up to five years imprisonment.  The law 
for the prevention of infiltration (1954) prohibits the 
smuggling of persons across Israeli borders and carries a 
punishment of up to five years imprisonment.  The GOI enacted 
no new legislation in 2004 regarding trafficking for sexual 
exploitation. 
 
-- Labor trafficking: A government bill that would 
specifically prohibit trafficking for the purpose of 
enslavement and forced labor is expected to be submitted to 
the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in April 2005.  The 
GOI enacted no new legislation in 2004 regarding labor 
trafficking. 
 
¶B.  What are the penalties for traffickers of people for 
sexual exploitation? 
 
Under section 203(a) of the penal code, a person selling or 
buying a person to deal in prostitution, or engaging in such 
selling or buying, can be imprisoned for up to 16 years. 
Anyone causing a person to leave his or her country of 
residence to engage in prostitution is subject to up to 10 
years imprisonment.  If the victim is a minor, the penalties 
are 20 years and 15 years respectively.  The average 
sentences courts impose have increased in 2004 to eight to 
ten years, from an average in 2002 of one to three years. 
 
-- For traffickers of people for labor exploitation? 
 
According to District Attorney contacts, such traffickers are 
not specifically prosecuted for trafficking of labor because 
there is no specific law which addresses such trafficking, 
but a law specifically prohibiting trafficking for labor is 
being drafted. 
 
¶C.  What are the penalties for rape or forcible sexual 
assault?  How do they compare to the penalty for sex 
trafficking? 
 
The penalties for trafficking are commensurate with those for 
rape and sexual assault.  The penalty for rape is a maximum 
of 16 years in jail.  If under aggravated circumstances, the 
maximum penalty is 20 years. 
 
¶D.  Has the Government prosecuted any cases against 
traffickers?  If so, provide numbers of investigations, 
prosecutions, convictions and sentences, including details on 
plea bargains and fines, if relevant and available. 
 
According to the GOI, courts convicted 25 defendants in 28 
TIP-related cases between March 2004 and February 2005.  The 
sentences ranged from six months to 12 years imprisonment. 
The Israeli Police conducted 50 investigations of TIP cases 
during 2004, resulting in 103 arrests of suspects. 
Prosecutors filed 89 indictments for trafficking in persons 
for prostitution and related offenses, including 39 
indictments for fraud, six indictments for forgery, eight 
indictments for aiding and abetting infiltration, and three 
indictments for withholding passports.  In 15 of these 
indictments the accused were detained until the conclusion of 
their trials.  In addition, 69 accused were detained during 
their trials, and 108 witnesses were housed in police-funded 
hostels. 
 
During 2004, the Crime Unit in the Immigration Administration 
recommended filing indictments against employers of foreign 
workers in connection with 84 of its investigations. 
Prosecutors are still reviewing the evidence to determine 
whether to issue indictments. 
 
The GOI reported that 13 TIP-related convictions resulted in 
plea bargains in 2004.  Defendants in these cases received 
prison sentences ranging from six to 82 months.  Many also 
were fined, with amounts ranging from NIS 2,000 to 25,000 
(about USD 450 to 5,500).  Each defendant in these 13 cases 
also received, in addition to the prison sentence, a 
suspended sentence that the defendant would have to serve on 
top of any sentence incurred for the same offense in the 
future.  In Israel, the State Prosecutor may appeal a plea 
bargain, requesting a longer sentence, and the higher courts 
have increased sentences for several cases of trafficking 
over the past year, according to both GOI and NGO sources. 
 
Specific cases against accused labor traffickers include The 
State of Israel vs. Or Le'david Ltd. et. al., in which an 
employer was indicted on five charges involving fraud, 
illegal employment, withholding passports and forgery.  In 
another case, The State of Israel vs. Um Brothers Ltd. et. 
al., 16 charges of withholding passports were filed against 
the defendant-employer.  The charges were filed as labor 
trafficking cases, but the defendants were prosecuted for 
"withholding passports," due to the absence of a specific law 
prohibiting trafficking of persons for labor. 
 
No requirement exists in Israel for a speedy trial, nor are 
there jury trials.  A case is usually heard by a judge in a 
series of hearings that can have intervals lasting several 
months. 
 
¶E.  Is there any information or reports of who is behind the 
trafficking?  For example, are the traffickers freelance 
operators, small crime groups, and/or large international 
organized crime syndicates?  Are employment, travel and 
tourism agencies or marriage brokers fronting for traffickers 
or crime groups to trafficked individuals? 
 
According to the GOI, small-scale international crime groups 
conduct most if not all of the trafficking in persons in 
Israel, and most criminals involved in trafficking are 
immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Some NGOs believe, 
however, that most of the traffickers are individual 
freelancers and small groups that work in cooperation with 
freelance agents and groups in Eastern Europe and the FSU. 
According to NGOs, some of these groups may work with 
manpower/employment agencies in source countries.  Evidence 
shows that Israeli Bedouins are involved in smuggling women 
across the border from Egypt.  NGOs charge that some 
employment/manpower agencies engage in activities that meet 
the definition of labor trafficking.  No evidence exists that 
Israeli employment, travel and tourism agencies or marriage 
brokers are involved as fronts for traffickers or trafficked 
individuals, according to the government.  NGO 
representatives concur that no evidence exists that Israeli 
employment, travel and tourism agencies are involved in sex 
trafficking, but note reports that Israeli employment 
agencies facilitate labor trafficking. 
 
-- Are government officials involved? 
No evidence exists that government officials are involved in 
TIP. 
 
¶F.  Does the government actively investigate cases of 
trafficking? 
 
Yes.  Police guidelines clearly encourage the police to make 
arrests and investigate fully any evidence of trafficking. 
The government investigated 460 cases involving trafficking 
in 2003, 602 cases in 2004 and 19 in January 2005, according 
to statistics provided by GOI officials.  Of the 602 cases in 
2004, only 50 were for trafficking persons for prostitution. 
The remaining 552 investigations involved related offenses, 
such as pandering, causing a person to engage in 
prostitution, soliciting prostitution and kidnapping. 
 
-- Does the government use active investigative techniques in 
trafficking in persons investigations?  To the extent 
possible under domestic law, are techniques such as 
electronic surveillance, undercover operations and mitigated 
punishment or immunity for operating suspects used by the 
government? 
 
Yes.  The police do use special investigative techniques, 
including the use of undercover agents, tracking devices and 
electronic surveillance, to the extent permitted by law.  The 
prosecution can request mitigation of punishment for 
cooperating suspects.  Plea bargains can be and sometimes are 
reached, although the court is free to reject them.  In 
addition, the district attorney may grant cooperating 
suspects "state witness" status, which may include immunity 
from prosecution, as a means to secure evidence against other 
offenders. 
 
-- Does the criminal procedure code or other laws prohibit 
the police from engaging in covert operations? 
 
No.  Police ordinance 5731-1971 authorizes the police to 
engage in covert operations for the purposes of discovering 
crime, preventing criminal offenses and apprehending 
criminals. 
 
¶G.  Does the government provide any specialized training for 
government officials in how to recognize, investigate and 
prosecute instances of trafficking? 
 
Yes.  In 2004, the government provided three training 
sessions, lasting five days each for 30 police officers each 
(a total of 90 officers), on how to recognize, investigate 
and prosecute TIP, investigate the source of the crime, and 
on how to counter money-laundering operations both in Israel 
and abroad. 
 
¶H.  Does the government cooperate with other governments in 
the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases? 
 
In January 2004, the Israel Police conducted in Belarus the 
first-ever joint investigation with a foreign police force on 
trafficking of women.  The operation is still ongoing and the 
police could not divulge details, but promised an update in 
March.  They are hopeful this will open the door to other 
joint operations with Russia and Ukraine.  In addition, 
cooperation between the Israeli and Russian police (the Unit 
Combating Organized Crime and the Russian State Attorney) 
expanded during 2004.  This cooperation resulted in the 
arrest and indictment of a trafficking ring leader and 
several other individuals in the former Soviet Union.  The 
government has also been pursuing a joint operation with 
Ukraine against an international network of traffickers that 
uses the falsified identity cards of Jewish Ukrainians to 
smuggle other individuals into Israel. 
 
¶I.  Does the government extradite persons who are charged 
with trafficking in other countries?  If so, please provide 
the number.  Does the government extradite its own nationals 
charged with such offenses?  If not, is the government 
prohibited by law from extraditing its own nationals?  If so, 
what is the government doing to modify its laws to permit the 
extradition of its own nationals? 
 
The government may extradite Israeli nationals under the 
provisions of the Extradition Law 5714-1954, as amended in 
2001, which specifically allows it to extradite any person 
charged with a penalty of more than one year to a country 
with which it has an extradition treaty.  The GOI may also 
extradite an individual to any country that, along with 
Israel, is a party to a multilateral international convention 
that contains extradition provisions. 
 
Israel also submits extradition requests to other countries 
in connection with trafficking cases in Israel. 
 
The State of Israel in August 2004 requested from Bulgaria 
the extradition of an Israeli national, Shlomo Kozev, on 
trafficking in persons and related charges.  As of the end of 
the reporting period, Kozev was on trial in the Tel Aviv 
District Court. 
 
In response to an Israeli extradition request, Russian 
authorities arrested in September 2004 Israeli national Shota 
Shamelashvili on trafficking and related charges.  As of the 
end of the reporting period, Shamelashvili's appeal of the 
extradition request was still pending in the Russian Supreme 
Court. 
 
In November 2004, the U.S. extradited Israeli national Yigal 
Mizrahi to Israel to face charges of pandering for the 
purpose of prostitution and related charges.  The crimes 
Mizarahi was charged with were committed prior to Israel's 
legal prohibition in 2001 of trafficking in persons. 
 
In another case, Israel requested the extradition of two 
unnamed individuals from Ukraine for TIP-related offenses. 
Extradition proceedings were underway in Ukraine at the close 
of the reporting period, although the individuals had not yet 
been arrested. 
 
¶J.  Is there evidence of government involvement in or 
tolerance of trafficking, on a local or institutional level? 
 
No evidence exists of government involvement in trafficking 
on a local or an institutional level. 
 
¶K.  If government officials are involved in trafficking, what 
steps has the government taken to end such participation? 
Have any government officials been prosecuted for involvement 
in trafficking or trafficking-related corruption?  Have any 
been convicted? 
 
Individual cases, noted above, exist in which police officers 
have received bribes or shielded brothels, but none have 
involved government officials. 
 
¶L.  If the country has an identified child sex tourism 
problem, how many foreign pedophiles has the government 
prosecuted or deported/extradited to their country of origin? 
 
 
No evidence exists of child sex tourism in Israel. 
 
-- Does the country's child sexual abuse laws have 
extraterritorial coverage (like the US PROTECT Act)? 
 
Yes, section 15 of the Penal Law provides that when an 
Israeli citizen or resident violates abroad Israeli laws 
concerning child sexual abuse, he or she may still be charged 
in Israel with that crime, e.g., receiving sexual services of 
a child, child prostitution, child pornography, and 
trafficking in children. 
 
¶M.  Has the government signed, ratified and/or taken steps to 
implement the following international instruments? 
 
-- ILO Convention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and 
Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of 
Child Labor.  The government ratified ILO Convention 182 on 
December 16, 2004. 
 
-- ILO Convention 29 and 105 on Forced or Compulsory Labor. 
The government ratified these conventions on July 7, 1955, 
and April 10, 1958, respectively. 
 
-- The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of 
the Child (CRC) on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution 
and Child Pornography.  The government signed this protocol 
on November 14, 2001.  Israel is currently in the process of 
initiating necessary amendments to its national legislation 
with a view to ratifying these conventions. 
 
-- The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking 
in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.  The 
government has not ratified this instrument, but signed it on 
November 14, 2001. 
 
 
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