At the Immigration Authority, they decided to share this story with the public: They issued a press release and set up a meeting for the woman with a Ma'ariv reporter, who published her story in depth. The Immigration Authority and the police have an interest in publicizing these stories for reasons of spin, and there's nothing wrong with that: Information about trafficking in women in Israel is clearly in the public interest.

The problem is that the newspapers' readers were spared no detail about the woman, including her full name. The media as a rule avoid making public the identity of victims of sexual assault, and the fact that this case does not involve an Israeli citizen need change nothing, particularly since exposing her identity could heighten the danger she faces in any case.

The Immigration Police spokesman says that, in the announcement sent to the media, only her first name is mentioned, but it seems that in cases like this one the police and the Immigration Authority aren't satisfied with doing the minimum. In a letter sent out a few days ago by attorney Naomi Levenkron of the Hotline for Migrant Workers, an organization that assists foreign workers, to Major General Yaakov Ganot, director of the Immigration Authority, she wrote, among other things, that "if the police are interested in arranging interviews of this nature, they have to make sure that the woman has received emotional support, because they should be aware of the implications of the publicity and the inherent danger, and must see that her privacy is protected insofar as possible. Although publicity is important, what is really important is the privacy and rehabilitation of the victim."