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O 112309Z JUN 09
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TO AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060566 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG IS
SUBJECT: ISRAEL -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND 
DEMARCHE 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 
     ¶B. (B) STATE 005577 
 
¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10. 
 
¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will 
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a 
press conference in the Department's press briefing room. 
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic 
and foreign news outlets.  Until the time of the Secretary's 
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or 
country narratives contained therein is prohibited. 
 
¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press 
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter.  Also provided 
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government 
of Israel of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent 
release.  The text of the TIP Report country narrative is 
provided, both for use in informing the Government of Israel 
and in any local media release by Post's public affairs 
section on June 16 or thereafter.  Drawing on information 
provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide the host 
government with the text of the TIP Report narrative no 
earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, 
EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 for 
SCA and EAP posts.  Please note, however, that any public 
release of the Report's information should not/not precede 
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16. 
 
¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at 
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 
release.  Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts 
in all countries appearing on the Report.  The Secretary's 
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of 
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and 
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis 
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website 
shortly after the June 16 event.  Ambassador de Baca will 
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign 
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 EDT. 
 
¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on 
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local 
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform 
the appropriate official in the Government of Israel of the 
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points 
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of 
the country narrative provided in para 8.  For countries 
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it 
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the 
Report being released in Washington on June 16. 
 
¶6. Action Request continued:  Please note that, for those 
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with 
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw 
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement 
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the 
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the 
narrative text.  This engagement is important to establishing 
the framework in which the government's performance will be 
judged for the 2010 Report.  If posts have questions about 
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they 
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, 
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. 
 
¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared 
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the 
press guidance provided in para 11.  If Post wishes, a local 
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP 
Report's country narrative provided in para 8. 
 
¶8. Begin Final Text of Israel,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
--------------- 
ISRAEL (TIER 2) 
--------------- 
 
Israel is a destination country for men and women trafficked 
for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. 
Low-skilled workers from China, Romania, Turkey, Thailand, 
the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India migrate 
voluntarily and legally to Israel for contract labor in the 
construction, agriculture, and health care industries.  Some, 
however, subsequently face conditions of forced labor, 
including the unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions 
on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical 
intimidation.  Many labor recruitment agencies in source 
countries and in Israel require workers to pay recruitment 
fees ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 ) a practice that makes 
workers highly vulnerable to trafficking or debt bondage once 
in Israel. Women from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan, 
Belarus, and China are trafficked to Israel for forced 
prostitution, often by organized crime groups across the 
border with Egypt.  Israeli women are trafficked within the 
country for commercial sexual exploitation, and small numbers 
are reportedly trafficked to Ireland and the United Kingdom. 
 
The Government of Israel does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  Israel 
continued law enforcement actions against sex trafficking and 
provided victims of sex trafficking with shelter and 
protection assistance.  Although the government filed its 
first indictment for forced labor under its anti-trafficking 
law in 2008, it did not obtain the conviction of any employer 
or recruitment agent for labor trafficking offenses.  In 
addition, the government did not provide the majority of 
forced labor victims with adequate protection services, such 
as appropriate shelter or medical and psychological services. 
 Extending protection services to all victims of trafficking 
identified in Israel, and improving identification of victims 
of labor trafficking and internal trafficking would enhance 
Israel,s anti-trafficking response. 
 
Recommendations for Israel: Significantly increase 
prosecutions, convictions, and sentences for forced labor 
offenses, including the unlawful practice of withholding 
passports as a means to keep a person in a form of labor or 
service; increase investigations, prosecutions, and 
punishments of internal trafficking for commercial sexual 
exploitation; and extend comprehensive protection services to 
victims of forced labor. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Israel increased its efforts to investigate 
cases of forced labor during the reporting period, while its 
prosecution of sex trafficking offenses and conviction of sex 
trafficking offenders declined.  Israel prohibits all forms 
of human trafficking through its Anti-Trafficking Law of 
2006, which prescribes penalties of: up to 16 years, 
imprisonment for sex trafficking of an adult; up to 20 
years, imprisonment for sex trafficking of a child; up to 16 
years, imprisonment for slavery; and up to seven years, 
imprisonment for forced labor.  These penalties are 
sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed 
for other grave crimes.  In 2008, the government investigated 
nine cases of alleged sex trafficking, filed six indictments, 
and obtained the convictions of six individuals ) 32 fewer 
than last year ) with sentences ranging from four months, 
to seven years, imprisonment and fines.  In addition, 12 
prosecutions for sex trafficking remained in process, and 
eight cases awaited appeals.  In March 2009, the government 
indicted eight men on charges of trafficking Eastern European 
women to Israel over a six year period for the purpose of 
forced prostitution.  During the year, the government opened 
24 investigations into cases of forced labor and 48 into the 
unlawful withholding of migrant workers, passports; it filed 
its first indictment for forced labor under the trafficking 
law in November 2008.  Police, however, did not initiate any 
investigations into the trafficking of Israeli citizens 
within the country and generally did not recognize trafficked 
Israeli women as such.  In 2008, the government requested the 
assistance of three foreign governments in conducting 
international trafficking investigations. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The government continued to improve its protection of 
trafficking victims over the reporting period, though 
protective services available to victims of forced labor and 
internal trafficking remained limited.  The government 
supervised and funded a local NGO,s operation of a shelter 
for foreign victims of sex trafficking, allocating $1.25 
million for operations, security, and medical care in 2008. 
During the year, the shelter assisted 44 women, 12 of whom 
were referred by the police.  Victims in this shelter 
received medical treatment, psychiatric and social services, 
stipends, temporary residency, and work permits.  Local 
observers, however, continued to report the shelter,s 
reluctance to accept trafficked women with children, and that 
victims outside the shelter could not access medical or 
psychological care unless they first paid for insurance.  The 
government employed formal procedures to identify victims of 
sex trafficking and refer them to the shelter or other NGO 
facilities; these victims were not punished for acts 
committed as a direct result of their being trafficked.  The 
government made protective services available for the first 
time to Israeli victims of sex trafficking at the end of the 
reporting period.  In December 2008, the Ministries of Health 
and Social Affairs launched a $2.5 million project to assist 
Israeli females engaged in prostitution, include trafficking 
victims, resulting in the opening of emergency apartments in 
Tel Aviv and Haifa, establishment of a hotline, and operation 
of a mobile clinic; while 70 women benefited from these 
services, none were identified as trafficking victims. 
 
Israel lacked a specific shelter for victims of labor 
trafficking, but government authorities referred six female 
victims of forced labor to the aforementioned shelter during 
the reporting period.  In 2008, the Ministry of Social 
Affairs solicited bids for the creation of three facilities 
for labor trafficking victims ) a shelter for women, a 
shelter for men, and three short-term apartments ) and 
selected an NGO to operate them.  In May 2008, the Committee 
of Directors General approved and disseminated to relevant 
government entities and NGOs procedures to identify labor 
trafficking victims.  NGOs reported, however, that the 
guidelines were not implemented and the Detention Tribunal 
that reviews immigration violation cases continued to 
misclassify labor trafficking cases on a regular basis, 
resulting in the detention and deportation of many victims. 
In July 2008, the Ministry of Interior published procedures 
for granting temporary visas to victims of slavery and forced 
labor; the government issued temporary visa extensions for 27 
sex trafficking victims and 17 forced labor victims in 2008. 
In February 2008, an inter-ministerial committee launched a 
new system for licensing nursing recruitment agencies and 
employing foreign caregivers in Israel that allows workers 
who legally entered the country to obtain alternate 
employment if they lose or chose to leave their first job; no 
licenses of abusive employers have been revoked since the new 
system came into place, though there have been reports of 
abusive employers over the last year.  In November 2008, the 
Knesset passed Legal Aid Law (Amendment 9) granting free 
legal aid to victims of trafficking and slavery.  In February 
2009, the Minister of Justice signed Penal Regulations 
5769-2009, making it possible to distribute property and 
funds confiscated from trafficking offenders to victims, 
NGOs, and government agencies to assist victim rehabilitation 
programs. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Israeli government made efforts to prevent trafficking in 
persons during the reporting period.  The National 
Coordinator for Anti-Trafficking Efforts provided lectures on 
trafficking to army units, city and municipality workers, 
students, and social workers.  In addition, the Authority for 
the Advancement of Women, the Ministry of Education, the 
State Attorney,s Office, and the Ministry of Justice,s 
Legal Aid Branch sponsored anti-trafficking seminars, 
conferences, and lectures throughout the country.  The 
government distributed a labor rights brochure to foreign 
workers arriving at the Ben Gurion Airport and a second 
brochure to foreign construction workers throughout the year. 
 To reduce the demand for commercial sex acts within Israel, 
the Knesset drafted, but has not yet passed, a private bill 
in 2008 ) The Prohibition of the Use of Paid Sexual Services 
Law ) calling for the criminalization of clients of the sex 
industry; the bill prescribes punishment of six months, 
imprisonment or an education program for first-time 
offenders.  The National Coordinator convened a series of 
meetings with NGOs, academics, and government officials to 
examine the bill; its passage has been delayed one year to 
allow for further study and intensive public education 
campaigns on the subject. 
 
¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer 
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to 
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report 
country narrative: 
 
(begin non-paper) 
 
-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), 
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to 
Congress.  The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and 
create partnerships around the world in the fight against 
modern-day slavery.  The USG approach to combating human 
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in 
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol").  The TVPA 
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in 
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex 
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, 
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological 
manipulation.  While much attention has focused on 
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol 
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a 
showing that the victim was moved. 
 
-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that 
only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking 
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, 
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of 
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of 
three tiers.  Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum 
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking" 
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1.  Countries 
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, 
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum 
standards are classified as Tier 2.  Countries assessed as 
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making 
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. 
 
-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a 
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year. 
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to 
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the 
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of 
each year.  Countries are included on the "Special Watch 
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP 
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been 
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: 
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human 
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant 
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over 
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of 
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim 
population.  As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been 
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after 
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier 
¶3.  Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this 
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP 
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch 
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to 
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report).  The new law allows for a waiver 
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a 
determination by the President that the country has developed 
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make 
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the 
minimum standards. 
 
-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory 
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on 
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance 
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for 
participation by government officials or employees in 
educational and cultural exchange programs.   In addition, 
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to 
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other 
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, 
trade-related or certain types of development assistance) 
with respect to countries on Tier 3.  Countries classified as 
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's 
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in 
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier 
classification, would avoid such sanctions.  Guidelines for 
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared 
by Posts with host governments. 
 
-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of 
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of 
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and 
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon:  fraudulent 
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in 
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor 
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the 
flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship 
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal 
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor.  As the 
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced 
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and 
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion.  The 
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the 
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated 
"cost of coercion." 
 
-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on 
website www.state.gov/g/tip. 
 
-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the 
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State 
Department.  We are providing you an advance copy of your 
country's narrative in that report.  Please keep this 
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June 
¶16.  The State Department will also hold a general briefing 
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 
17 at 3:30 EDT. 
 
(end non-paper) 
 
¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country 
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web 
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as 
possible after the TIP Report is released.  Funding for 
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human 
Rights Report.  Posts needing financial assistance for 
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX 
office. 
 
¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use 
with local media. 
 
Q1:  What progress has Israel made in the past year? 
 
A:  Israel continued to pursue law enforcement activities 
against sex trafficking and provide victims of sex 
trafficking with shelter and protection assistance.  In 2008, 
the government investigated nine cases of alleged sex 
trafficking, filed six indictments, and convicted six 
individuals with sentences ranging from four months, to 
seven years, imprisonment and fines.  The government filed 
its first indictment for forced labor under its 
anti-trafficking law in 2008. 
 
Q2:  What can Israel do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A:  Though the government filed its first indictment for 
forced labor during the reporting period, it did not 
criminally prosecute or convict any employer or recruitment 
agent of labor trafficking offenses.  In addition, it did not 
provide the majority of forced labor victims with adequate 
protection services, such as appropriate shelter or medical 
and psychological services.  To advance its anti-trafficking 
efforts, the Government of Israel could:  Significantly 
increase prosecutions, convictions, and sentences for forced 
labor offenses, including the unlawful practice of 
withholding passports; increase  investigations, 
prosecutions, and punishments of internal trafficking for 
commercial sexual exploitation; and extend comprehensive 
protection services to victims of forced labor. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON