News Desk - The Cradle
The mass mobilization of Israeli reservists to wage war in Gaza has deeply affected Israel's battered economy
Construction companies in Israel have requested the government to allow them to hire upwards of 100,000 Indian workers to replace the Palestinians whose work licenses have been suspended following the Palestinian resistance’s operation in October.
Tel Aviv’s desperation to fill the void of their labor market has, according to Al-Jazeera, “exposed a gulf between claims of economic success by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which insists that a rising GDP is turning the nation into a global powerhouse, and the lived reality of millions of people.”
A sizeable chunk of the foreign workers in Israel left after the war started in October.
According to Israel’s Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI), authorities say they would like to see 10,000 to 20,000 Indian workers in the coming months, matching the amount foreign workers that entered the country in 2021.
“India will be one of if not the, largest supplier of building workers in Israel in the coming years,” deputy director general of the Israel Builders Association, Shay Pauzner, said, noting that 5,000 workers from New Delhi and Chennai had already been secured.
Tel Aviv’s eye on New Dheli reflects the warming relations. The two countries signed a deal in May last year that would send 42,000 Indian construction and nursing workers to Israel.
Advertisements have been erected across India showing salaries ranging from $1,400-1,700 per month. About 17,000 Indian workers reside in Israel, mainly employed as nurses.
Al-Jazeera spoke to one of the workers set to go to Israel, Pramod Sharma, “they told me I had cleared the first round, that an Israeli client will now come to Rohtak for a second round of interviews, and that I should come here,” he said. “We have been sleeping inside the bus in this cold for the last three days and using the washroom at a roadside eatery, waiting for our interview.”
The war between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions forced roughly 50,000 Israelis and over 17,000 foreign workers to leave the country, per the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority. One-fifth of the workforce, approximately 764,000 Israelis, are unemployed due to evacuations, school closures, or army reserve deployment.
Despite being sought after, Indian workers unions have been vocal in their opposition to sending workers, traditionally called scabs by unionists, to replace those who have lost their jobs due to the war.
“Nothing could be more immoral and disastrous for India than the said ‘export’ of workers to Israel. That India is even considering ‘exporting’ workers shows the manner in which it has dehumanized and commodified Indian workers,” the Indian trade unionists said in a statement.
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