Angelique Sabag Gautiller calls herself a pioneer and, indeed, the smiling, blonde-haired, blue-eyed year-old is, in fact, something of a trailblazer in Israel. When I met Gautiller in December , she was under house arrest and had to wear an electronic bracelet on her leg. Our last meeting was in July , several days before she began serving her prison sentence.
She was in a good mood and seemed relieved that her trial, which lasted nearly two years, was finally over. Over the past few years, international reports released by the U. Department of State and other organizations that monitor human trafficking listed Israel, for the first time, as an exporter of prostitution. The trend makes sense, given a new law brought before the Knesset this year.
The bill, which is expected to pass, seems to have spurred sex workers to look abroad for new revenue streams. She made aliyah from France when she was 17, volunteering at Kibbutz Hatzerim before moving to Eilat and getting a job as a waitress. In , Gautiller moved back to Israel and settled in Tel Aviv, but her prospects were bleak.
I literally had nothing left. She visited his website and reached out to him via email, and he asked her to come work for him in Dublin.
Gautiller and Byrne grew close, and in , Byrne promoted Gautiller to an assistant position. Her task was to find Israeli women to work in Ireland, a country with one of the biggest prostitution industries in Europe.
