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Unholy Items from the Holy Land

December 19, 1975
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Lately the Holy Land has been exporting to New York a very unholy item; Israeli prostitutes. No one knows for sure how many of them are presently working in New York, but it is estimated that there are “more than a few” Israeli women here who make their living from the “oldest profession in the world.”

Israeli men told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they were approached by Hebrew-speaking prostitutes in the Times Square area, the red-light district of Manhattan. One Israeli student, who attends the City University Graduate Center on 42nd Street, told the JTA of his encounter with one of the prostitutes. “She realized that I was an Israeli when I began to talk to her, and then we continued the conversation in Hebrew.”

An American Jewish businessman said that Israeli call girls can be found in the bars of the big hotels in midtown Manhattan. “They are very secretive about their true identity,” he told the JTA. The reason, he said, is that the women fear they will be located by the immigration authorities since they are staying illegally in the United States. According to the businessman, one of the Israeli prostitutes told him that her tourist visa has expired and she could find no job, “so I am working here and making good money,” she said. Prostitutes in New York, who, according to the police, number between 25,000 to 30,000, make between $100-$200 a night (or day).

A spokesman at the Israeli Consulate in New York who was asked if the Consulate is aware that Israeli women are working as prostitutes here, said with surprise; “No. Not at all.”

There will be no Daily News Bulletin dated Dec. 25 due to Christmas, a postal holiday.

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