Israeli authorities have investigated and prosecuted international human trafficking networks involving the recruitment of women from Brazil for sexual exploitation in Israel. Reported cases have included allegations that women were recruited with promises of employment or travel before being subjected to prostitution and other forms of exploitation.
In April 2025, Israeli authorities filed an indictment in Jerusalem against David Kaufman and Luis Kramer, two Brazilian immigrants living in Israel. The indictment alleged that the two men operated an international trafficking network that recruited Brazilian women for prostitution.
According to the reported allegations, members of the network instructed women to travel from Brazil to Jordan and subsequently enter Israel through the Allenby border crossing. The alleged purpose of the route was to present the women as tourists and avoid scrutiny associated with direct entry into Israel.
In August 2026, Israeli police announced arrests following a nine-month undercover investigation involving suspected human trafficking across multiple countries. Three people were arrested, including a couple from Beersheba and another individual from Eilat. Investigators alleged that the group recruited vulnerable women abroad and arranged their travel to Israel for sexual exploitation.
Reported trafficking methods in these cases have included deceptive employment offers, arrangements for international travel, control of identification documents, isolation from outside contacts, and financial obligations imposed on victims. Investigators have also documented allegations of coercion and threats in trafficking cases involving sexual exploitation.
Brazilian popular culture has also addressed trafficking of Brazilian women to Israel. The 2012 Brazilian television series Salve Jorge included a storyline involving women recruited with false promises of employment and subsequently exploited in prostitution. The series increased public discussion in Brazil concerning international trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Human trafficking networks involving Brazilian women have historical precedents extending beyond contemporary cases. From the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century, Jewish women from Eastern Europe were trafficked to South America through criminal networks that operated in cities including Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.
One organization associated with this historical trafficking was Zwi Migdal, a criminal association formed by Jewish immigrants in Argentina. The organization was accused of recruiting women from Eastern Europe through false promises of marriage or employment and exploiting them in prostitution. The women were sometimes referred to by the term Polacas.
The historical Zwi Migdal network and contemporary trafficking cases involving Brazilian women are separate historical phenomena. The existence of the former does not establish a direct organizational connection between that network and modern trafficking groups operating between Brazil and Israel.
