Committee on the Status of Women convenes following ministerial approval of bill aimed at curbing prostitution

Knesset Member Nissim Zeev of the religious Shas party accused Bedouins of helping human traffickers smuggle women into Israel.

Sunday´s meeting of the Committee on the Status of Women on human trafficking was called after the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a draft law that would impose prison sentences of up to six months for solicitors of sexual services.

The bill, which was submitted by MK Orit Zuaretz (Kadima), passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum on last week.

MK Zeev said the root of the problem "is right here in the country, within our borders, among our Bedouins.

"We must convey the message that eventually we will become the victims," he said.

The Shas lawmaker said the Interior Ministry was working to eradicate human trafficking in Israel, and added: "We must ask ourselves why the pimps still manage to smuggle women in such large amounts. Apparently they are a bit more sophisticated."

Shas chairman Eli Yishai, Israel´s interior minister, said during the meeting "women´s trafficking is one of the most severe phenomena, but I am pleased to say that its scope in Israel is decreasing."

Rita Chaikin of Woman to Woman, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the victims of domestic violence in Israel, called for increased supervision on Israeli men who "order" brides from abroad.

She said many of these so-called "brides from Ukraine" end up in shelters for battered women.

Population, Immigration and Border Authority director Amnon Ben-Ami told the committee "we will not stop until this phenomenon is abolished."

MK Zuaretz claimed prostitutes have been harassing her on the phone and complaining that her proposal would hurt their livelihood. (Copyright 2012 © Yedioth Internet 02/20/12)