19.01.2013                      08.Schwat. 5773                     Bo

Tel Aviv – Rotlichtviertel:

Drugs, prostitutes and renewal in south Tel Aviv

Police officers speak about violence, petty crime in migrant-heavy Tel Aviv neighborhoods.

A rat the size of a well-fed house cat sent a female reporter from Army Radio dashing across Fein Street one night earlier this week in the heart of the Central Bus Station neighborhood, Tel Aviv’s basin of junkies, homeless African migrants, and bottom-rung prostitutes. The brush with the rodent was one of the few moments of excitement during a tour organized by police for crime reporters, all of whom have been to the area time and time again. The feeling was almost akin to taking political reporters on a tour of the Knesset, though it did have its bright moments, including when a female crime reporter for an Israeli outlet wanted to see the inside of a brothel, so the deputy head of the Tel Aviv district knocked on the door of a matchbox sized apartment on Fein Street and the reporter was let in by a haggard, 50-something prostitute, who pinched her cheek and showed off her meager digs….