The mounting dangers for Arab-Israeli women in prostitution – brought on by the Gaza war

Natalie Farah, head of Arab society unit at Lo Omdot Me’negged organization

Vered Lee reports in Haaretz on 8 December 2024:

At nine in the evening Natalie Farah, head of Arab society unit at Lo Omdot Me’negged organization, receives an urgent call from a social worker who says she has met an Arab woman in a brothel, without status, without staying permit, who doesn’t speak Hebrew and is in a dire condition.

Farah, 34, speaks to the woman in prostitution in Arabic, calms her down and gives her the number of a help line. This is how she hooks up the woman in prostitution with Lo Omdot Me’negged, where she is given initial treatment. “They have spent years without any treatment from authorities because of lack of faith in the system,” explains Farah.

Lo Omdot Me’negged started out in 2017 as a Facebook group that provided emergency help for women in prostitution. The founder, Naama Goldberg, registered it as a non-profit organization in 2018. The organization assists women in prostitution, providing food, furniture, and equipment for the home, as well as paying bills and financing school. In addition, it accompanies the women during bureaucratic paperwork, medical treatments and more.

“We have helped some 3,000 men and women in prostitution,” says Farah, “about 700 of those were Israeli Arab women (some 100 were Palestinian women without status). Some 30 percent of those who turn to the organization are Arab men in prostitution. Every week we are approached at least twice by Arab women in prostitution from all over the country. These are harsh numbers, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Farah, a Jaffa native, is an Arab Palestinian Christian citizen of Israel, married and mother to three daughters. About three years ago, she became active in the organization as the sole Arab volunteer. She has been volunteering since she was young. “Every year I chose to volunteer somewhere else,” she says.” That is how I was brought up at home. I volunteered to teach Hebrew to children of refugees at the Central Bus Terminal, I did my national service in prisoners’ rehabilitation and I volunteer at the Jaffa Christian community, to which I belong.”

With approaches from Arab women in prostitution on the rise, Farah became coordinator of the help line, and is currently a paid employee of the organization and developing the Arab society unit.

Lo Omdot Me’negged is approached by Arab women in prostitution ages 16 to 45 and, on occasion, older. “In Arab society, women wind up in prostitution to survive. In most cases, these are girls and women who have experienced sexual abuse in the family and the community,” says Farah.

“They run away from home due to sexual abuse or forced marriage, and wind up in the street. When they try to tell of their situation, they don’t get any support, and if they turn to an Arabic speaking social worker in their hometown, who is acquainted with their family, it is very likely that the social worker will be afraid to file a complaint. These women are being threatened. They have to run for their lives and without language, education, or a caregiver, they reach survival situations that lead them to prostitution.”

According to Farah, “Women in prostitution in Arab society are at high risk of being murdered. One characteristic of prostitution in Arab society is the risk to their lives. They are on the run from their families every day. This fear is exploited by pimps as means to blackmail, and becomes a tool to control them. They are in constant danger – a video or picture may be released, and they will be hunted. They are on the run from town to town.”

Farah recalls Yasmin (an alias), who since age nine underwent sexual abuse by a relative. When her mother died, there was severe hunger in the house. When she was 12, her father – a drug addict – began to pimp her into prostitution with the cooperation of her aunt. “We encounter this phenomenon more and more in Arab society,” she says. “People pimping out their relatives. Pimping in Arab society begins at home.”

Yasmin ran away from home at age 16. She soon wound up in prostitution in a brothel. “She did not want to be in prostitution, but that was the only thing she was familiar with. She had nowhere to turn to. When Lo Omdot Me’negged finally managed to reach her and put her in treatment, it turned out that the framework was ill fitted to her.”

Farah talks about the obstacles in treatment programs for Arab women in prostitution: “Most existing programs are not suitable to Arab women in prostitution – neither in terms of language nor culture. Yasmin’s story is an example of the obstacles we face today in rehabilitating Arab women in prostitution.

Despite the rising number of women in prostitution in Arab society, there is no accessibility to Arab language services: hardly any Arabic speaking social workers have proper training. Arab women in prostitution come with their own characteristics, and we realize that existing programs are not accessible nor are planned with them in mind, and this is detrimental to treatment and rehabilitation. There is an acute need to design suitable programs for Arab society.

“After accompanying her for a long time, we referred a woman in prostitution who was beaten and pimped by her husband, to treatment. At first she felt, ‘Wow, there is a shower, there is a bed, it is safe here, I can sleep, the team is wonderful.’ But she soon dropped out. She told me: ‘Who am I going to talk to there? The counselors, the team, the manager, and the psychiatrist are not Arab speakers.’ What are those women’s chances of not dropping out?”

The war made the situation of women in prostitution even more dire. “Early on in the war, there was a wave of layoffs,” says Farah. “Prostitution survivors in Arab society who have managed to find normal work were immediately fired. They were the first casualties, and they found themselves in prostitution again.

“One mother told me – ‘I meet clients in the car because the kid sleeps in the house.’ The war caused an increase in the calls we receive. The great distress is felt among survivors as well as among those in active prostitution – they are at great risk.

“The war also brought about a rise in violence by prostitution users. They are in double jeopardy. This is a population without a heartland, without family protection, without a community and without proper solutions. The war made their situation worse.”

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