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Tel Aviv battles against strip clubs

New regulations adopted by the Tel Aviv municipality would enable it to ban new striptease clubs in the city and render such openings a criminal offense.
A boy walks past the closed Gogo Girls strip club in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on March 5, 2020. - The demise of Tel Aviv's strip clubs was accelerated in 2018, when Israel's parliament, the Knesset, passed a law banning brothels. But the final straw came in April last year when the public prosecutor issued a directive to clamp down on lap dances, arguing they could in some cases be viewed as prostitution. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Tel Aviv’s Planning and Construction Committee approved Sept. 16 a new policy, turning permits for new strip clubs into an almost impossible mission. According to the new instructions, anyone wishing to open such a club would need a special authorization from the planning committee. Each request is then discussed separately. More so, opening a strip club without the proper permit would be considered a criminal offense.

The new regulations offer the committee grounds for refusal of changing designated land use in such cases. In practical terms this means a long and complicated process that is unlikely to end up with a permit.

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