The Ministry of External Affairs issued a clarification on Thursday amid claims that Israel was looking to hire more than 1 lakh Indian workers. The other country is currently facing a labour shortage with the work permit of more than 90,000 Palestinians cancelled amid the war with Hamas. The Israel Builders Association recently said that officials were “negotiating with India”.
“... We have been working towards giving our citizens access to a global workplace... We are in discussion to try and get into mobility agreements with a number of countries... In Israel, already a number of workers are employed there, especially in the caregiver sector... We have been discussing a bilateral framework in the construction and caregiver sectors. But this is a long-term initiative, I'm not as I said aware of the specific requests are numbers that are floating,” said MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Israel have been suspended from their jobs since a Hamas-led attack on October 7 triggered a fresh war in Gaza. Many have also been deported in the ensuing days.
Haim Feiglin – the vice president of the Israel Builders Association – told VOA earlier this month that around 25% of the sector's human resources had comprised of Palestinians.
“Right now we are negotiating with India. We are waiting for [the] decision of the Israeli government to approve that. And, we hope to engage 50,000 to 100,000 workers from India to be able to run the whole sector and bring it back to normal,” he told the publication on November 1.
Earlier this year the two countries had inked an agreement that allowed 42,000 Indians to work in the Jewish state. in the fields of construction and nursing. As per the press statement from the Israeli foreign ministry, 34,000 workers will be engaged in the construction field and another 8,000 for nursing needs.
The addition of workers from India is expected to help deal with the rising cost of living in Israel and help thousands of families waiting for nursing care.
(With inputs from agencies)
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