Ministers okay bills to criminalize the hiring of prostitutes

A key ministerial panel approves two private bills criminalizing prostitution hire, but will hold off on advancing the proposed legislation until the Justice Ministry presents its own version of the proposal.

The vote to extend coalition support to the anti-prostitution proposals — one by Jewish Home MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli and Meretz MK Zehava Gal-on, the second by Yesh Atid MK Lavie — marked the first time the government signaled its willingness to combat the phenomenon through legislation, after nearly a decade of efforts by female lawmakers to spearhead legislation to criminalize purchasing sex services.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation also votes to give coalition backing to an initiative to monitor suspected abusive spouses by forcing them to wear electronic tracking tags, following a spate of murders of women this year, allegedly by their spouses. That bill — presented by Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie and backed by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan — would allow courts to order the tags placed on a suspect after a complaint of domestic violence has been lodged against them, even without a full trial and conviction.

— Marissa Newman