"Israel? You Mean the Land of Prostitution?"
Lisa wrote today about the bill presented to the Israeli Knesset which advocates a rather mild censorship to be imposed on the Internet. The main issue, however, is not the bill, at least for me.
I found her piece so interesting that I translated parts of it in my Persian blog. Then, I posted the link in the Iranian Digg, Balatarin. There, a very sincere comment was written which I think means a lot. This is the translation of that comment,
Amazing! I thought Israelis have no law in these issues. It seems they do. I have so many negative ideas about Israel. For example, that there are as many prostitution places there as we have supermarkets in Tehran. I don’t know if that’s correct or not but the people around me think like this. As much as I know at least…
Well, I think the Islamic Republic has succeeded in convincing at least a portion of the Iranian population that Israelis, or even Jews for that matter, have a tail and two horns.
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But wait a second. The JPost kind of verified this.
It is not untrue that Prostitution is a thriving business in Israel. In fact Bill Kurtis of A&E show did a special show, a few years back about this type of business and Israeli prostitution and drug trade were featured prominently in it.
From the JPost report provided by Esra’a:
How many government documents, national criminal justice organizations, research institutes, and news agencies throughout the Middle East (not to mention elsewhere) do you think have gathered adequate data and evidence on human trafficking? Come on people. There is a real problem about making conclusions about “worst offenders” when the infrastructure to deal with this phenomenon is different depending upon each country.
Clearly Israel has a major problem that needs to be addressed, but let’s get real. If anyone really thinks Israel, with it’s extremely tight and guarded border control, is really one of the world’s worst offenders regarding human trafficking and prostitution, they better wake up really fast. Men are horny everywhere and porous border areas and unethical government forces make a nasty combo. For example, Saddam’s government sold an untold number of Kurdish women and girls to men in Egypt during the Anfal, never to be seen again, and the Egyptian government refuses to investigate whether they are even still alive.
Rule number one: The fewer investigations you have, the fewer stats you have to incriminate you. Countries may skirt under the radar because of poor statistical collection, but that doesn’t mean trafficking isn’t a huge business there nevertheless. What’s most important is to protect the victims regardless of their ethnic/religious identity, or the ethnic/religious identity of the perp. Let’s not use trafficking for cheap political points. This is a transborder phenomenon that demands everyone work together.
PeacefulVanguard, “Saddam’s government sold an untold number of Kurdish women and girls to men in Egypt during the Anfal”
You have absolutely no evidence to back up such a heinous and far-fetched assertion.
Grow up. Everyone knows that there are thousands of Eastern European prostitutes in Israel and everyone knows that there are thousands of Asian women from Indonesia, Phillipines, and Sri Lanka working as sex slaves and maids in Israel, Lebanon, and KSA. So don’t give me you Bullshit. The report said Israel was one of the bigget offenders. That’s not hard to believe. It’s one of the chief destinations for human trafficking in the world, that you can’t deny. Give me ten countries you think are worse than Israel?
Russia
Ukraine
Moldova
Saudi Arabia -MAYBE
I honestly can’t think of anymore
Wanna bet?
http://www.kwahk.org/articles.asp?id=36
Dude, I never denied this or glossed over Israel’s human trafficking nightmare so calm down. I said that countries with an infrastructure to confront and document human trafficking will have higher stats about it than those countries that don’t. You can point the finger at Israel all you want to if that suits your politics. But it won’t change the problem for women victims in countries that hardly address the issue at all.
Yes, Israel has a big and shameful problem with human trafficking. So do far too many other countries – for example Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and even the U.S.A.
The point Arash was trying to make, in linking to my post and highlighting an Iranian reader’s comment, is that crude propaganda does have a negative effect on people’s attitudes.
I think that some of the comments in this thread simply go to prove his point – albeit unintentionally.
How? Who here is from Iran that responded to prove Arash’s point?
I’m not talking about people from Iran.
Lisa,
Egypt does not have a problem with human trafficking. It’s neither a destination for the trafficking of sexual or manual laborers (as its far too poor to afford such an industry) and it’s certainly not a place where Egyptian women are trafficked to other countries involuntarily to serve as sex slaves or anything. Israel and Saudi Arabia are the worst offenders in the Middle East, no other country even comes close.
Patrick,
According to several reliable sources, such as humantrafficking(see fourth paragraph) Egypt is a major transit on the human trafficking route. While I am in no way trying to downplay the problem in Israel, I do wonder why the Egyptian government seems to have done very little to stop the smuggling of female victims via Egypt.
Also, Syria has a major problem with underage Iraqi females working as cheap prostitutes – as reported in Salon and, more recently, the NYTimes.
But the point of Arash’s post is not to provoke an argument about which Middle Eastern state has the biggest problem with prostitution – nor is it my point.
The point is that his Iranian reader was so brainwashed by the anti-Israel propaganda transmitted by her country’s media, that she actually believed brothels are as common as gas stations in Israel. Instead of giving a moment to consider the extent to which we are all negatively influenced by one-dimensional media portraits of one another’s societies, the first commenter in this thread actually proved Arash’s point – that we are all victims of misinformation and prejudice – by rushing to shovel more fuel onto the anti-Israel fire. And then you did the same thing.
I thought that ME Youth’s goal was to get beyond the blame game, the victimization narrative and the hate agendas. It seems I was wrong, and I am disappointed.
Human trafficking in whatever country is wrong. end of point.
About the media it sadly goes both ways.. anti-arab /anti- israel!
“there are three sides to a story, mine-yours and THE TRUTH”
Though I must admit that anti-arab propaganda is more widespread than the anti-israel propaganda and I mean globally
Prostitution and taxes are two things that will exist to the end of human-kind. Governments can try to outlaw prostitution, but in the end, such laws will fail. Men want sex, and they will get it one way or another. It takes only a quick visit to a local priest and a small donation for a man and woman in Iran to be “married” for an hour or two. Just enough time to make the copulation “morally right”. Protistution exists in the same amount, in one form or another, no matter what country a person is in. No matter what centry. It’s a universal constant, like the speed of light.
Kamangir,
You say the Islamic Republic is responsible for the views of the person who made the comment, yet you have not given a government source that says that is how Israel is viewed. Did you translate the complete comment or just the part that makes it look like you have a good point. Perhaps the Iranian Musllim learned this point of view from an Iranian Jew who had visited Israel. THere are very conservative Jews. In Israel there are often clashes between conservative and secular jews.
Here are two articles about prostitution and sexual slavery in Israel.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/23/world/main682673.shtml
http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2002/Aug_2002/efaf_house_4802.htm
That would certainly be a good discussion, but if you want to get it off the ground you need to use examples of anti-Arab or anti-Muslim stereotypes found in Western or Israeli media. Then you’ll get lots of support.
Do NOT, for example, say anything about how the Islamic Propagation Organization and the Shrine of Imam Reza Foundation have published “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”
And for God’s sake, don’t mention Farfour…