Israel's Growing Prostitution Problem

Prostitution, the world's oldest profession, has been legal in Israel since the 1940s, but many members of Israel's Knesset are now trying to change that. Although there is much benefit that the prohibition can bring, in my opinion, it can cause much more harm than good. By criminalizing prostitution, many argue that, like with the drug trade, it will only drive it further underground, increasing issues of sex trafficking and sexually transmitted diseases.

Female Israeli Pimp

According to the Haaretz article on the proposed bill to criminalize prostitution, supporters of the bill believe that criminalization of prostitution will decrease the numbers of sex trafficking and smuggling of sex slaves from eastern Europe. They hope that, one day, they can eliminate prostitution all together. While these are, unarguably, goals that everyone can and should be on board with, they may not occur so simply as they would hope. The article also mentions some of the oppositions to the bill. Opponents argue that because prostitution has existed for all of time, it will continue to exist despite all efforts. They maintain that the only way to improve the livelihood of sex workers is to improve the options and assistance that are available to them. Criminalization will only further harm the sex workers by creating more underground prostitution, decreasing the access to clean and safe facilities for the workers and their clients.

This Haaretz article is reliable as it includes commentary from both sides. This is usually an indicator that the author, Sharon Pulwer, has done her research and interviews several prominent figures. This also shows that the author does not want to include her own influences and opinions in the article but I feel that her focus on the positives of the bill hinted at her personal stance on the issue.

The Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution says in its white paper on Trafficking in Israel that thousands of women are trafficked into Israel every year and that almost all of the victims are from the former Soviet Union where women will do anything to escape poverty. These women are treated like slaves and are forced to work in disgusting conditions. The task force call for increased action from Israel on combating human trafficking such as increasing border and immigration reform and educating military and police how to better spot trafficking and trafficking victims. The white paper does not mention complete criminalization though, possibly implying that believe it is not a viable solution and that many other actions should be looked at first.

A Prostitute Waiting For a Client

The task force is reliable for providing accurate statistics since inaccurate ones would only hurt their cause but we do need to take in to account that they are a lobby group. Lobby groups are created to promote a specific agenda so anything they post should be noted to contain an agenda and options on the issue at hand.

Many of these women enter Israel on tourist visas hoping to find work to support them and their families back home. These women are then deceived by pimps and brothel procurers into the sex trade industry. Because these women are there on travel visas they are not allowed to work legally and become stuck in the prostitution industry as sex slaves. Although their prostitution is not illegal, their working status is, landing many of these women in prison. They are afraid to testify against their pimps as they fear the lives of their family and themselves are at risk, choosing to instead stay in prison. (Rosenthal, 389)

An issue that is not discussed much is that many police choose to be very lenient with charging pimps and brothels in exchange of receiving tips and other information on more serious and dangerous criminal activity. Because much of the prostitution in Israel and all over the world is run by the Russian mafia, there is a lot of information that can be shared. Much of the organized criminal activity in Israel started around the time after the Soviet Union was dismantled. This led to many from that region to immigrate into Israel bringing ties to the Russian mafia with them. The Russian mafia in Israel today can be attributed with controlling most of the organized crime.

I believe that the main cause of the human trafficking problem in Israel is their Immigration policies. They allow far too many people to enter their country and especially those from eastern Europe. If they want to fight the growth of the sex trade market they need to start cutting of the source of their "product", the women. Most of these women are brought over from the former Soviet states and it has only increased as Israel has lifted their visa requirement from that area.

Orthodox vs. Secular Education in Public Schools

Although Israel is the Jewish state and a majority of Israelis are Jewish, not all Israeli Jews are religious. According to the Haaretz article on Religion Creeping Into Israeli State School Textbooks, many secular Jews and other Israelis are not happy with how religion is being forced into lessons taught to their children. All of these textbooks have approved by the Ministry of Education and many parents feel that this is a growing issue stemming from Israel's current Education Minister, Naftali Bennett.

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website describes how the Israel school system is laid out. It consists of four groups: the state schools which are secular in nature, the state religious schools which have an emphasis on Jewish tradition and education, the Arab and Druze schools which focus on Arab and Druze religions and history, and the private schools which are operated by various groups. While the state schools' goal is to be secular in its education, Jews that are more religious will likely prefer more religious education in their children's schools and Jews that are more secular, will likely prefer little to no religious education in their children's schools. This can cause issues with what is and is not approved for state school education.

Shabbat Themed Activity Found
In a Textbook

While around 75% of Jewish youth attend the secular state schools, those school are full of religious Jewish teachings and values. throughout their educational career, students are taught various religious holidays and songs, as well as learning stories in the Torah and their connection to Israel. All of this has an effect on students and many secular Jews are not happy about it. When comparing Jews all over the world, secular Jews in Israel have a much more religious education than secular Jews else ware. Though, when living in a place like Israel where there is a synagogue on every corner, it can be difficult to avoid religion. (Rosenthal, 233)

The Secular Forum, a group of secular and less religious parents, conducted a study, mentioned in the Haaretz article, on textbooks that were published in the last decade. These textbooks had all been written by private outside companies and approved by the Ministry of Education. The study found that many textbooks contain frequent references to religion and some even depict being religious as the correct and better way of life. These textbooks had been used for the secular state schools.

According to the Haaretz article, the secular Jews conducting the study feel that this is not a random coincidence but has been an ongoing issue that continues to this day. One example that the study found depicted two families. The religious depicted family was shown being respectful to each other and the secular depicted family was shown yelling and arguing with each other.

Many secular parents and even some that are religious believe that this should not be part of the curriculum in state schools and I would have to agree with them. If the school is a state funded education it should not include religious values in its teachings.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett

Education Minister Bennett, on the other hand, does not agree. Bennett has added a new course to the grade one to nine curriculum titled "Israeli Jewish Culture" and he promises that this course will not include any religious coercion. He says that the Jewish Narrative which has been passed down through generations is one that must continue. Many Israelis find it hard to believe that these courses will not coerce students since teaching them this narrative as factual will definitely affect the student's values.

This problem is further reinforced when Bennett stated that studying Judaism and following the religious practices was more important to him that studying the maths and sciences. According to the Haaretz article on this issue, Bennett has often mentioned how important religious study is to him and I believe this will definitely have an effect on Israeli schools and their curriculum.

The Education Minister should be someone that can put all their religious opinions and values aside while making decisions for the nation's school systems. By having religious influences in his decisions, Bennett is ultimately affecting what the students will take away from their schooling. In a secular home, parents may want their children to believe in certain values and practices but, when their education teaches them that Jewish values are the correct values this may cause many issues in their home.

Israel's New Settlement

The Article:
The Palestine News Network article about Israel approving building new settlements, written by Madeeha Araj on April 5, 2016, discussed the new settlement East of the Shilo settlement that has been approved by Israel's government as well as many other human rights violations that Israel has allegedly committed.

The West Bank settlement of Shilo located near
the city of Ramallah

The article opens with a few sentences describing Israel as an occupation government that continues to grab Palestinian lands. It then mentions Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to build this new settlement and describe which lands have been allocated for it. Adding to this, the article mentions how this is the first new settlement that Israel has approved since 1992.

After briefly mentioning the new settlement, the article continues onto how the cabinet had also approved continuing the construction on the existing settlements to improve them and increase their size. After this, the article moves onto discussing how Israel had been coming many crimes against the Palestinian people, and then goes on to list the most recent human rights violations by location. Some of the violations mentioned include expanding a checkpoint from Jerusalem to Ramallah to increase flow of travelers and the completion of one of the walls built near the city of Bethlehem.

The Kalandia checkpoint from Jerusalem to Ramallah

Analysis:
This article and the author do not do a good job at staying unbiased although I do not believe they even attempted to be. The author continuously uses negative words and descriptions when referring to Israel in these situations with the obvious goal of demonizing Israel and creating an anti-Israel attitude in the reader.

Although I am not an avid news reader, I had never actually heard of the Palestine News Network. After doing some research on its history it seems that neither has Wikipedia, displaying only options to create an article on the subject. Their website's "about us" page describes the network as a group of independent journalists that try to stay professional and apolitical on topics discussed, then, in the next paragraph, states that they support the Palestinian people and their cause. This is a complete contradiction of their original statement. This news agency is very obviously biased, favoring the Palestinian people.

The contents of the article also confirm this bias. The very first paragraph of the article does not even call Israel by its name but as an "occupation government" that continuously steals land that belongs to the Palestinians. This is a very negative and not apolitical way to portray Israel. Throughout the article the author talks about Israel in a very negative light, describing Israel's various actions as "violations". At the end of the article, Araj lists the events from the prior week that she sees as violations against the Palestinian people. She uses many words with negative connotations like apartheid, demolish, and storming.

As far as the credibility of the author or the news source, I unfortunately cannot tell. The author did not mention any other newspaper or any other source anywhere in the article, only referring to the "National Bureau" as the source with. No link of explanation of this source can be found. This is something that is very important, in my opinion, when reporting the news, and is especially needed when the author goes on to list several of Israel's "violations" that took place. For all I know, the author could have fabricated many if not all the events. When trying to find more information on the network, there does not seem to be very many results. A quick search on the author's name does, however, display some useful information. On the author's Facebook page, she lists herself as an employee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). There are also other articles written by her that can be found. They all seem to follow the same format of briefly explaining the topic then listing the violations documented by this National Bureau. All this put together confirms the network's and the authors bias against Israel.

Trump's Controversial New Draft Pick

The Article:
The Haaretz news article, written by Judy Maltz on December 16, 2016, on Trump's new Israel Ambassador being a large donor for the West Bank Settlements discussed the controversy surrounding President Donald Trump's new pick the Israel Ambassador.

David Friedman is the focus of the article, discussing the different causes and organizations he supports. The most important organization discussed is the American Friends of Beit El Institutions (AFBEI) which was created in 1988 and raises millions of dollars each year from supporters in the United States to assist the various residents and businesses in the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. Friedman volunteers as president of the organization.

The article also discusses the Beit El Yeshiva that benefits from AFBEI's donations, referring to the yeshiva's head rabbi as a "militant rabbi". The head rabbi, Zalman Baruch Melamed, who has advised Israeli soldiers to disobey their orders to evacuate Israeli settlements has, in the past, also argued that homosexuality comes from eating certain foods. Adding to this, Maltz also mentions that one of the large donors of the organization are the parents of Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and that Friedman has had also been Trump's Bankruptcy Lawyer for over 15 years.

One of the last things that the article discusses is the yeshiva's newest approach in its curriculum, largely supported by the AFBEI, which aims to set up online programs that help Jewish students and Zionists in the United States to become better advocates for Israel and to be better communicators with students in the "social justice" community.

Analysis:
Although Haaretz, Israel's longest running paper, is well known to be a left-wing news source that holds many liberal stances on Israeli and foreign issues, it and this article can still be trusted to give factual accounts of the events portrayed. The paper discusses issues all over the world but mainly focuses on Israel. It has been openly against the Israeli settlements and keeping control over the occupied territories.

The article, in my opinion, does not do a good job of staying unbiased but I do not believe it was intended to be unbiased. The issue discussed is a very controversial one the author and the newspaper disapprove of. It does provide some factual evidence about the amount of funds that the organization receives but there are parts of the article where the authors bias leaks though. The author mentions the rabbi heading the Beit El yeshiva and his stance on the Israeli settlements, which itself is completely relevant to the topic of the article, but then brings up that the rabbi has made some unfounded claims as to the cause of homosexual tendencies. In my opinion this is completely irrelevant to the topic and is only mentioned as a way of discrediting the rabbi and portraying him as an ignorant and untrustworthy source. In this sentence, the authors bias was clearly visible.

It is also important to note that as the Beit El yeshiva, as well as any other organization that benefits from the donations, is in Beit El, an Israeli settlement, it is obvious that its teachings would support the settlement.

The author attempts to be unbiased thought the paper but, as I see it, an unbiased article would have no reason to go this far in depth into the various organizations that Friedman supports and how Trump has several connections to them. Friedman's connection to Trump as his lawyer for over 15 years and Trump's son-in-law's family being a large donor to the AFBEI are not something that would be important unless the author sees them as negatives.

Maltz does not, however, present the idea of the settlements in a negative way. She does not include any opinions of people for or against Trump's decision but does link to another article on Haaretz, by Debra Nussbaum Cohen, on the same topic. While Cohen does include opinions from both sides, she makes a statement in the first sentence stating that some Jewish leaders are worried by Trump's nominee, clearly showing her negative bias on the topic.

The Startup Nation and Its Struggling Cousin

The Article:
In the Times of Israel news article on the Startup Nation being a possible incubator for Palestinian entrepreneurs, the author, Dov Lieber, discusses an initiative, started by Yadin Kauffman of the venture capital firm Sadara, to bring promising Palestinian graduates into multinational companies and Israeli startups.

The article focuses on a couple of individuals and their experience in the Palestinian tech industry. The first being Sari Taha, who received his mechanical engineering degree from the Birzeit University in Ramallah, West Bank. After finishing his schooling, Taha was not able to find a job as he had received no experience and many of the jobs required skills not taught in the Palestinian Universities. The second individual that the article brings up is Nadine Handal, whose life was changed after being accepted by the Palestinian Internship Program (PIP). The program gave her the opportunity to intern at Intel, giving her the necessary experience that, as she said, was something you cannot find in the West Bank. The article's focus is the PIP initiative which finds Palestinians with potential in the tech industry and gives them the opportunity to gain the experience needed to succeed.

The PIP initiative aims to stay apolitical and focus on only the business aspects. The founder says that the goal is one that both Palestinians and Israelis will want. According to Kaufman, it is in Israeli's best interest to have Palestinian economy grow, creating more jobs and increasing education levels. In theory, by having a more employed and educated Palestinian society will decrease the amount of terror or political extremist activity. According to the article, Israel's Civil Administration has been cooperative in providing their candidates with the permits needed to work in the Startup Nation.

The article then comes back to Taha, who is now working to build a tech-hub in the West Bank that, if it works as planned, would greatly help both the Israeli and Palestinian Tech Industries. Taha says that the only way to improve the economy in the territories is to grow the tech sector. At the moment, the economy is greatly dependent on foreign aid.

Analysis:
The article and the news source, Times of Israel can be trusted to give accurate accounts of events as it was originally founded with the goal of being an apolitical news source with no bias. It focuses on topics related to Israel, the Middle East, anything related to the Jewish world, including American Jewish issues. Many of the newspaper's editors have previously worked for Haaretz, a reputable newspaper that is the longest running paper in Israel.

The article does a good job, in my opinion, of staying away from making any political statements, other than saying that initiatives like this would be in both the Israelis and Palestinians best interests. The article focused on the issue that many Palestinians graduate from University unable to find work and enter the Palestinian Tech Industry. It also mentions how many of the Palestinian tech companies are only copies of existing companies that are adapted into Arabic and that no Palestinian tech company has ever grown large enough that a multinational company has shown interest in acquiring it. Because of this situation, many do not have the ability to work in sizable tech companies and the unemployment rate in Palestinian territories is 27 percent.

This situation in the West Bank is the antithesis of the situation in Israel. In Israel, the industry is one of the biggest in the world. Israel is known as the Startup Nation because it is home to the largest number of startups per capita than any other nation. Many of the greatest technical advancements and technologies were created in Israel. Because of this, many tech graduates from around the world come to Israel to work and get experience in the Tech Industry. The article discusses the issues in an unbiased way, supporting the growth of the Palestinian industries since it would ultimately be beneficial to all.