Wikipedia's first sentence called it “legal”. Today it says “widely tolerated in israel”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Prostitution in Israel is legal, but organized prostitution in the form of brothels and pimping is prohibited.1According to the findings of a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee appointed in 2005, 3000-5000 women are smuggled into Israel annually and sold into prostitution. Most of the prostitutes come from Ukraine , Moldova , Uzbekistan , China and Russia , and many are smuggled through Egypt . In 2003, Israel passed a law that would allow the state to confiscate the profits of traffickers, but watchdog groups claim it is rarely enforced. In 2007, a report by the Knesset 's Committee on the Status of Women reported that in recent years the number of trafficked women had dropped to less than 1,000. Prostitution in Israel has been dominated by Russians since the mass immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. A study published in 2005 found 1,000 Russian prostitutes working in Israel, mostly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. From 1991 to 1994 the number of massage parlors run by Russian immigrants rose from 14 to 111. In 2007, the United States State Department placed Israel as a "Tier 2" in its annual Trafficking in Persons reports, meaning that it does not fully comply with the standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. In December 2009 a bill outlawing purchase of sexual services was introduced into the Israeli parliament. Every month men in Israel visit brothels up to one million times. The sex trade in Israel generates up to $2 billion in revenue a year. June 2007. : Unknown parameter |url= ignored ( help ) Knesset bill filed to make hiring of prostitutes illegal. Jerusalem Post dec 20 2009 "Israeli Men visit brothels one million times a month" . : Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= ( help ) "Israel Black Markets" . : Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= ( help )2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 368373737.
The opening as it stood in 2015 13 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Prostitution in Israel is legal, but organized prostitution in the form of brothels and pimping is prohibited.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 646824506.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Prostitution in Israel is legal, but the purchase of sex and organised prostitution in the form of brothels and pimping are prohibited.Legislation passed in the Knesset on 31 December 2018 that criminalises the "clients" of prostitutes came into force in May 2020.This legislation makes Israel the tenth country to adopt the " Nordic model ".The Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services estimates there to be 14,000 prostitutes in the country.The main centre of prostitution in Israel is Tel Aviv .It has been estimated that 62% of the brothels and 48% of the massage parlors in the country are in Tel Aviv.The traditional red-light district of the old bus station area was subjected to a number of raids and closures in 2017, and the area is subject to gentrification .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964824009.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in Israel Prostitution in Israel (the exchange of sexual acts for money) was legal until December 2018, but organised prostitution in the form of brothels and pimping were prohibited.Legislation passed in the Knesset on 31 December 2018 that criminalises the "clients" of prostitutes came into force in May 2020, and was regulated since July 2020 under the Israeli Abolition of Prostitution Consumption Law , where fines will be cast for consumption of prostitution services from an adult. This legislation makes Israel the tenth country to adopt the " Nordic model ". The Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services estimates there to be 14,000 prostitutes in the country. The main centre of prostitution in Israel is Tel Aviv . It has been estimated that 62% of the brothels and 48% of the massage parlors in the country are in Tel Aviv. The traditional red-light district of the old bus station area was subjected to a number of raids and closures in 2017, and the area is subject to gentrification .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176039459.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Prostitution (the exchange of sexual acts for money) was legal in Israel until December 2018, but organised prostitution in the form of brothels and pimping was prohibited. Legislation passed in the Knesset on 31 December 2018 that criminalises the "clients" of prostitutes came into force in May 2020, and was regulated since July 2020 under the Israeli Abolition of Prostitution Consumption Law , where fines will be cast for consumption of prostitution services from an adult. This legislation makes Israel the tenth country to adopt the " Nordic model ". The Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services estimates there to be 14,000 prostitutes in the country. The main centre of prostitution in Israel is Tel Aviv . It has been estimated that 62% of the brothels and 48% of the massage parlors in the country are in Tel Aviv. The traditional red-light district of the old bus station area was subjected to a number of raids and closures in 2017, and the area is subject to gentrification .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1289958682. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “legal”. Today it says “widely tolerated in israel”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
legal
Now
widely tolerated in israel
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
