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More Can Be Done Regarding the Sex Trade in Israel

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Prostitution is currently not illegal in Israel. In Israel, prostitution is considered legal – however running a brothel and pimping – earning a living off of sex workers is not legal.   Police are often short-staffed and underfunded, and more often than not, they look the other way when it comes to enforcing the law against these enterprises that are generating income from prostitution (Rosenthal, 385).   There are at least two problems with this picture.   First, due to the overwhelming population of illegal sex-workers living in Israel, the amount of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and AIDS which was once considered low in Israel are increasing rapidly (Rosenthal, 384).   In 2016, Dr. Itay Gal, a medical correspondent for Ynet News published an article that highlighted the various forms of STIs that were shown to be substantially on the rise in Israel: chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea.  Although Dr. Gal does not attribute any specific reason for the increase in the
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Jewish and Arab Israelis Want to Coexist

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A mixed couple - Mulim woman and Jewish man. Do all Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs hate each other, and does each group hope to eradicate the other from the State of Israel?   No, not all Israeli Jews and Arabs hate each other, and not all of each group wants to remove the other from Israel.   Donna Rosenthal gives many examples of tolerance and acceptance, while Pew Research Center’s study shows a downward trend, and +972 Magazine publicizes a poll that shows an upward trend.   These are not to say that there are some Arab communities within Israel that are utterly anti-Semitic, and there are some Jewish communities with hostility towards Arab Israelis, but this aggressive mentality is chiefly limited to highly religious Muslim communities.   Rosenthal describes the relationship between Muslims and Jews in her book The Israelis .     The Muslims chapter, in particular, she tells the story of a physician Yasser Mansour, an Israeli Arab Muslim who lives in Haifa.   Through the
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A Member of Otzma Yehudit Might Become a Member of the Knesset

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Itamar Ben Gvir (left) with Michael Ben Ari (right) Journalists in the Agence France-Presse, an international news agency, along with the staff of the Times of Israel jointly assembled an article that discussed a far-right wing politician.  The politician they focused on was Itamar Ben Gvir.   Ben Gvir has been indicted 53 times, and has been cleared in 46 of these cases.   The authors raise concern over the fact that he may end up becoming a member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, due to a deal brokered by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  The article says that the purported deal repulsed many Jewish communities in and away from Israel because it puts a party whose reputation for racism, Otzma Yehudit , on Israel’s electoral slate.  In building a coalition, Netanyahu made a political decision in not allowing right-wing votes to be wasted – without this alliance, the Otzma Yehudit party might not obtain enough electoral votes in order to qualify for any seats in the
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Netanyahu at AIPAC: It's not about the Benjamins

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Netanyahu's speech via satellite at AIPAC. Times of Israel diplomatic correspondent Raphael Ahren wrote an article regarding a speech by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.   The speech was given by Netanyahu at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington by satellite to approximately 18,000 people in attendance.   AIPAC is a lobbying organization that promotes pro-Israel policy to Congress and the President of the United States.  Ahren’s highlights of the speech were the reference to U.S. Congresswomen of the 5th District of Minnesota , Ilhan Omar’s tweet, Netanyahu’s thanking the United States President Donald Trump for recognizing Golan Heights as territory of Israel, Netanyahu’s defense against criticism of Israel’s basic law regarding nation-state, and Netanyahu rebuking anti-Semitism.  A tweet by Omar in February, Ahren said, referred to AIPAC’s influence on American politics when she said, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.”  Omar’s r
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U.S. Consulate Merges with U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

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The former U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. Ma’an News Agency contributors assembled an article regarding the merging of the U.S. Consulate and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.   The article specified that the consulate served the Palestinian population who live in Jerusalem.   Prior to the merger, the consulate was also the primary means of communication between the U.S. and Palestinian leadership.   As a result of the merger, the consulate will no longer be independent.   The writers of the article criticize the notion Palestinians will now have to work with an organization that is subservient to David Friedman, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel.   The spokesperson of the U.S. Deputy State Department, Robert Palladino was quoted stating that there will be a complete continuity of diplomacy by the U.S. Embassy, as well as services previously provided by the consulate, executed by a new Palestinian Affairs Unit throughout and after the merger.   Palladino assures continuity of U.S. poli
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