Tel Aviv District police on Sunday issued a closure order against a brothel in the city after a prostitute who worked at the site took her own life earlier this month. The building was shut down under a technicality enabling police to limit the use of a premises.
Police said it was the second time that a closure order was issued for the place, but the previous action had been annulled by the court. However, the operators could face charges of running a brothel and procuring prostitutes.
Prostitution in legal in Israel, but running a brothel or sex trafficking is illegal. On Sunday night, hundreds of people gathered in London Park in Tel Aviv opposite the brothel in memory of the woman and to protest against prostitution. According to fellow sex workers J had worked for 15 years as a prostitute and had recently become depressed and started using drugs and alcohol heavily, the Hebrew-language Walla website reported. Shortly after her body was discovered the brothel reopened its doors and continued business as usual.
According to the Task Force on Human Trafficking, there are 15, women working in the sex trade in Israel. Illustrative photo of a prostitute outside a brothel in south Tel Aviv, looking at a police woman nearby, September 21,
