The Rabbinical Court Administration has asked the State Attorney’s Office to open an investigation against a woman who stole another woman’s identity in order to convert to Judaism so that she could marry her Israeli partner, Israel Radio reported Thursday.
The woman, who was not named, arrived in Israel from a former Soviet Union country to work as a prostitute, apparently as a victim of a human trafficking ring. She used the stolen identity of an Israeli woman to begin the process of converting to Judaism in order to marry her partner, an Israeli man.
The Beersheba Rabbinical Court approved her conversion, which was conducted through a private ultra-Orthodox court, as well as her future marriage after the woman’s partner confirmed that he wanted to continue the relationship despite her past.
During 2014, the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, an Israeli NGO, reported at least 64 victims of human trafficking. Among them were 22 deaf East Europeans who were forced to work as beggars and 11 East European women who were detained and deported by the Population, Immigration and Border Authority without undergoing a police investigation.
Another 42 Eritrean migrants currently in Israel were used as slave labor by their captors in Sinai before arriving in Israel, the group said.
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