The state’s first convicted female pimp calls herself a pioneer as the Knesset considers outlawing prostitution
Angelique Sabag Gautiller calls herself a pioneer and, indeed, the smiling, blonde-haired, blue-eyed 40-year-old is, in fact, something of a trailblazer in Israel. Convicted in July 2011 of “conspiring to cause a person to leave the country in order to work in prostitution,” for helping nine Israeli women work as prostitutes in Ireland, Gautiller was sentenced to 30 months in prison in the Neve Tirza women’s prison—making her, in short, the Jewish state’s first female pimp...
Over the past few years, international reports released by the U.S. Department of State and other organizations that monitor human trafficking listed Israel, for the first time, as an exporter of prostitution. It’s estimated that a few hundred sex workers from Israel are sent abroad each year. The trend makes sense, given a new law brought before the Knesset this year. Titled “Prohibiting the Consumption of Prostitution,” the legislation seeks to make paying for sex a criminal offense punishable by six months in prison. The bill, which is expected to pass, seems to have spurred sex workers to look abroad for new revenue streams.
Gautiller is one of the burgeoning industry’s captains. She made aliyah from France when she was 17, volunteering at Kibbutz Hatzerim before moving to Eilat and getting a job as a waitress. She later headed to the United States, briefly settling in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and then New York, where she sold Israeli music at a store in Manhattan called Hava Nagilah...
Her scheme went undetected by authorities for over a year. In 2007, an Israeli human rights organization, Hotline for Migrant Workers, noticed one of Gautiller’s ads and sent a female employee to apply for the job. In a grassroots sting operation, the employee recorded her conversation with Gautiller and then contacted police. The investigation lasted several months, as police investigated Gautiller and the women who worked for her. Four months later, when Gautiller landed at Ben Gurion airport, she was promptly arrested...
“I promise you that in the coming years you’ll hear that prostitution in Israel is in decline, but the prostitutes will not disappear or become rehabilitated,” she said. “They’ll just move to places where they are properly rewarded, like Ireland or England, Croatia or Japan or the United States, countries where it is much more lucrative to be a prostitute than it is in Israel.”..."
By World War I, prostitution was an active industry in cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Ramla, with brothels owned by both Arabs and Jews. British soldiers joined a growing client base during the 1930s and 1940s, and Tel Aviv was considered the industry’s capital in the Middle East. After the establishment of the State of Israel, prostitution was not forbidden by law, but anyone caught working as a pimp was subject to prosecution. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, the industry grew, with the influx of immigrants creating an increase in demand.
Starting in 2000, increased awareness of human trafficking led to the introduction of legislative measures to combat prostitution in Israel. But today, the numbers remain high: Police estimate that there are nearly 10,000 sex workers in Israel. Organizations designed to help those working in this industry put the number closer to 20,000—equal to the population of an Israeli city like Zikron Yaakov. According to those same sources, brothels receive 3 million visits each week.
Israeli police report an increase in instances of Israeli women arrested abroad in the last two years, though police officials won’t give exact numbers. However, once the Prohibiting the Consumption of Prostitution Act passed the first of three necessary rounds of Knesset approval earlier this year, police amplified their attention to the issue. The proposed legislation also received attention from Israeli media outlets as the discussion shifted to focus on customers worried about getting caught paying for sex...
Zuaretz estimated that prostitution has become a billion-dollar-a-year industry in Israel. “We’re not just talking about the money the client pays the prostitute, but the apartment rentals, the cabs, and the hotel rooms,” she explained. “It’s all part of a larger industry that thrives on prostitution and lives off the back of these miserable women. It’s a dangerous situation.”
According to Zuaretz, the bill sparked a notable increase in the number of women calling the various help centers sponsored by the state. Several government ministries have since started providing mental and financial assistance to sex workers, helping them find homes and new jobs. But there are many more women, like Marina, who want to be left alone by the government, arguing that the money is worth it.
Prominent Israeli civil-rights activist Shabi Korzan explained that it’s rare to encounter a sex worker who is not, in some way, used or abused. “It sounds very nice and liberal-minded to paint this as a story of an economic opportunity,” she said, “but it is our obligation as a society to give these women a choice and not to justify the act as the outcome of free will.” She is wary of Marina’s tales of endless financial opportunity. “The problem is that if we believe that all prostitutes are like Marina, we lose our capacity to be outraged by the more common stories of prostitution, and we should absolutely be outraged.”
Surprisingly, Gautiller echoed that very same sentiment when we last spoke. “When I was in Ireland, I felt the most horrible loneliness imaginable,” she told me. “Today I regret getting into this world, because even if everything is good economically, emotionally it’s all screwed up. I shouldn’t have given other women the opportunity to get into it, because you become addicted to it, to all this easy money, and you find some justification,” she admitted. “But it’s an addiction. No girl ever dreams of being a prostitute.” "
He can start by fighting this:
ReplyDeleteFrom Tablet magazine:
"Exporting Israeli Prostitutes
The state’s first convicted female pimp calls herself a pioneer as the Knesset considers outlawing prostitution
Angelique Sabag Gautiller calls herself a pioneer and, indeed, the smiling, blonde-haired, blue-eyed 40-year-old is, in fact, something of a trailblazer in Israel. Convicted in July 2011 of “conspiring to cause a person to leave the country in order to work in prostitution,” for helping nine Israeli women work as prostitutes in Ireland, Gautiller was sentenced to 30 months in prison in the Neve Tirza women’s prison—making her, in short, the Jewish state’s first female pimp...
Over the past few years, international reports released by the U.S. Department of State and other organizations that monitor human trafficking listed Israel, for the first time, as an exporter of prostitution. It’s estimated that a few hundred sex workers from Israel are sent abroad each year. The trend makes sense, given a new law brought before the Knesset this year. Titled “Prohibiting the Consumption of Prostitution,” the legislation seeks to make paying for sex a criminal offense punishable by six months in prison. The bill, which is expected to pass, seems to have spurred sex workers to look abroad for new revenue streams.
Gautiller is one of the burgeoning industry’s captains. She made aliyah from France when she was 17, volunteering at Kibbutz Hatzerim before moving to Eilat and getting a job as a waitress. She later headed to the United States, briefly settling in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and then New York, where she sold Israeli music at a store in Manhattan called Hava Nagilah...
Her scheme went undetected by authorities for over a year. In 2007, an Israeli human rights organization, Hotline for Migrant Workers, noticed one of Gautiller’s ads and sent a female employee to apply for the job. In a grassroots sting operation, the employee recorded her conversation with Gautiller and then contacted police. The investigation lasted several months, as police investigated Gautiller and the women who worked for her. Four months later, when Gautiller landed at Ben Gurion airport, she was promptly arrested...
“I promise you that in the coming years you’ll hear that prostitution in Israel is in decline, but the prostitutes will not disappear or become rehabilitated,” she said. “They’ll just move to places where they are properly rewarded, like Ireland or England, Croatia or Japan or the United States, countries where it is much more lucrative to be a prostitute than it is in Israel.”..."
From Tablet magazine:
ReplyDelete"Exporting Israeli Prostitutes
By World War I, prostitution was an active industry in cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Ramla, with brothels owned by both Arabs and Jews. British soldiers joined a growing client base during the 1930s and 1940s, and Tel Aviv was considered the industry’s capital in the Middle East. After the establishment of the State of Israel, prostitution was not forbidden by law, but anyone caught working as a pimp was subject to prosecution. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, the industry grew, with the influx of immigrants creating an increase in demand.
Starting in 2000, increased awareness of human trafficking led to the introduction of legislative measures to combat prostitution in Israel. But today, the numbers remain high: Police estimate that there are nearly 10,000 sex workers in Israel. Organizations designed to help those working in this industry put the number closer to 20,000—equal to the population of an Israeli city like Zikron Yaakov. According to those same sources, brothels receive 3 million visits each week.
Israeli police report an increase in instances of Israeli women arrested abroad in the last two years, though police officials won’t give exact numbers. However, once the Prohibiting the Consumption of Prostitution Act passed the first of three necessary rounds of Knesset approval earlier this year, police amplified their attention to the issue. The proposed legislation also received attention from Israeli media outlets as the discussion shifted to focus on customers worried about getting caught paying for sex...
Zuaretz estimated that prostitution has become a billion-dollar-a-year industry in Israel. “We’re not just talking about the money the client pays the prostitute, but the apartment rentals, the cabs, and the hotel rooms,” she explained. “It’s all part of a larger industry that thrives on prostitution and lives off the back of these miserable women. It’s a dangerous situation.”
According to Zuaretz, the bill sparked a notable increase in the number of women calling the various help centers sponsored by the state. Several government ministries have since started providing mental and financial assistance to sex workers, helping them find homes and new jobs. But there are many more women, like Marina, who want to be left alone by the government, arguing that the money is worth it.
Prominent Israeli civil-rights activist Shabi Korzan explained that it’s rare to encounter a sex worker who is not, in some way, used or abused. “It sounds very nice and liberal-minded to paint this as a story of an economic opportunity,” she said, “but it is our obligation as a society to give these women a choice and not to justify the act as the outcome of free will.” She is wary of Marina’s tales of endless financial opportunity. “The problem is that if we believe that all prostitutes are like Marina, we lose our capacity to be outraged by the more common stories of prostitution, and we should absolutely be outraged.”
Surprisingly, Gautiller echoed that very same sentiment when we last spoke. “When I was in Ireland, I felt the most horrible loneliness imaginable,” she told me. “Today I regret getting into this world, because even if everything is good economically, emotionally it’s all screwed up. I shouldn’t have given other women the opportunity to get into it, because you become addicted to it, to all this easy money, and you find some justification,” she admitted. “But it’s an addiction. No girl ever dreams of being a prostitute.” "