TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS INCIDENT ON ISRAEL-EGYPT

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002698 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR NEA/IPA; GTIP FOR GAYATRI PATEL; PRM FOR GEORGE ALDRIDGE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF SMIG IS EG GTIP ISRAELI SOCIETY SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS INCIDENT ON ISRAEL-EGYPT BORDER ¶1. (U) Israel Radio reported at 1200 on Friday, June 30 that IDF soldiers killed a Sudanese national in the course of his arrest. He was reportedly in the company of nine other Sudanese, three residents of the Gaza Strip, and three "call girls from Russia." The IDF shot the Sudanese national, according to Israel Radio, after he fled the vehicle containing all sixteen illegal migrants. ¶2. (SBU) Official GOI Anti-Trafficking Coordinator Rachel Gershuni confirmed the press report to poloff July 3, and said that two of the women came from Moldova, and one from the Sudan. Gershuni said that the head of the crime unit in the Immigration Administration, Ziva Agami Cohen, informed her that the two Moldovan women were transferred immediately to Tsohar detention center in the south of Israel, where they were offered the option of immediate transfer to the shelter in Tel Aviv for trafficking victims. Ziva Agami Cohen confirmed these details to poloff on July 5, adding that the two women elected to go to the shelter and were transported there within 24 hours of their June 30 apprehension. Cohen said that the two Moldovan women appeared to be trafficking victims, but that the Sudanese woman did not. She said that the Sudanese woman formed part of a recent wave of asylum seekers traveling to Israel from Sudan via Egypt. (Note: Cohen also reported that a formal policy has been agreed between the Immigration Administration and the Israeli Border Police that, in the future, all suspected trafficking victims will be sent directly to the shelter, without stopping first at a detention center. End note.) ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** JONES