BySARAH BEN-NUN

JULY 7, 2026 16:08

Enforcement actions by police regarding Israel's ban on purchasing prostitution services have been limited to just a few stations. At the same time, recognized victims of trafficking for prostitution have received residence visa decisions that occasionally strayed from standard Population and Immigration Authority rules, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman determined.

The review, running from December 2024 through July 2025, looked at law enforcement practices, trafficking investigations, victim support measures, and visa decision processes.

"The constitutional duty to protect human dignity, liberty and physical integrity lies at the heart of the state's obligations," Englman stated on Tuesday. "The audit uncovered major shortfalls in applying the law against buying prostitution services, along with notable risks of insufficient action on prostitution offenses and especially trafficking of women for such purposes."

Officers handed out 3,004 fines for buying prostitution services in 2022, yet the figure dropped to 902 in 2023 and 378 in 2024. Although it climbed to 1,061 in 2025, the total stayed roughly 65 percent under the 2022 level.

The uneven pattern extended geographically as well. Nearly 99 percent of fines issued from 2021 to 2025 originated in the Tel Aviv, Central, and Coastal districts, almost all through the Zevulun, Rishon Lezion, and Sharett stations.

In 2024, the Southern, Northern, and Jerusalem districts issued zero fines even though they held intelligence on suspected prostitution sites in their jurisdictions, the findings indicated.

Officers had identified over 1,300 addresses across the country as possible prostitution locations in 2024, with hundreds rated as medium- or high-reliability leads. Roughly 40 percent fell within the Tel Aviv District. Still, the comptroller observed that much of this data did not lead to actual enforcement steps.

Police shut down 13 brothels in 2024 and 29 in 2025, reaching a combined 60 closures from 2022 to 2025. Since the 2017 law permitting courts to close websites tied to certain offenses took effect, only 95 such orders have been granted in cases involving solicitation, advertising, or marketing of prostitution.

The report also faulted the minimal application of a rehabilitative-educational option in place of fines. Out of 5,345 fines issued between 2022 and 2025, just 111 individuals finished the program, equaling a two-percent completion rate. The initiative aims to raise awareness about harms linked to prostitution and curb repeat violations.

Police converted only 44 percent of their already limited intelligence on human trafficking into operational steps in 2024, leaving 56 percent unused, per the report.

Police also failed to establish national targets for fines under the prostitution law until 2025. In trafficking matters, the Coastal, Central, and Judea and Samaria districts solved no cases from 2022 to 2024 despite a joint goal of eight cases.

The national headquarters unit handling human-trafficking cases had just one officer by the close of the audit in July 2025. Extra positions approved that year stayed vacant.

Tel Aviv District stayed the sole area with a specialized police unit for trafficking offenses and related crimes. The force opted in September 2023 to create similar units in the Central and Coastal districts, yet the formal order came only in February 2025, and both units remained incomplete as of August 2025.

The comptroller highlighted positively that Tel Aviv's unit launched 13 major trafficking cases between 2022 and 2024, covering complex probes, indictments, and proceedings that resulted in convictions.

Prostitution trafficking victims encounter barriers to staying in Israel

The report also flagged issues in how the Population and Immigration Authority handled victims of trafficking for prostitution who sought permission to stay in Israel.

It noted that the authority had, in certain instances, required an exceptional financial guarantee for a victim's return to Israel to finish a rehabilitation year; granted limited residence visas that did not align with its own rules for trafficking victims set to testify, even when police confirmed their presence was needed; demanded a fresh review of victim status once a police probe ended; and dispatched inspectors to check if victims had resumed prostitution, an action outside the inspectors' assigned scope.

The report stated that visa disputes had arisen in recent years between the authority and the Justice Ministry's Legal Aid Department. The department pursued appeals and tort claims to force the authority to issue visas per the law, calling the cases avoidable and wasteful.

The coordinator in the Justice Ministry's anti-trafficking coordination unit described the authority's routine denial of work visas to trafficking victims as unreasonable and at odds with government decisions and the authority's internal procedures.

According to the report, the coordinator cautioned that the approach could drive victims back into prostitution, damage criminal cases that had received heavy investment, and hurt Israel's position in the US State Department's yearly Trafficking in Persons Report.

The report observed that the State Department ranking covers trafficking in persons overall, not solely for prostitution. Israel has held Tier 2 status since 2020, per the comptroller, leaving it vulnerable to a drop to the lowest tier, which might trigger wide sanctions.

Government plans to fight trafficking stay incomplete

The government's five-year national plan against trafficking in persons is set to conclude in late 2026, yet multiple tasks remain unfinished. Coordination between police and the Population and Immigration Authority's Enforcement and Foreigners Administration had not been formalized through an official procedure.

The online public hotline received only 47 inquiries from 2022 to 2024. As of May 2026, the coordination unit had not created a structured annual interministerial training plan, while plans for funding transport of trafficking victims to shelters stayed unresolved, even though the Welfare Ministry covered the transport in practice during 2025.

Englman advised that police bolster consistent enforcement, apply existing intelligence and public tips more fully, and explore privacy-protected data sharing with Health Ministry Levinsky Clinics to better locate prostitution venues.

He further urged the Population and Immigration Authority to grant residence visas to trafficking victims in line with its powers and procedures.

"Six years after the law prohibiting the purchase of prostitution services came into force, the enforcement measures taken are not enough," Englman said. "Implementation of measures to combat trafficking for prostitution, protect victims and provide treatment is also deficient and incomplete."