Indian workers flock to Israeli jobs

When Israeli and Indian officials ran six days of skill tests for workers in the state of Haryana earlier this month, thousands lined up for interviews and a chance to demonstrate their abilities as carpenters, iron benders and plaster masons, hoping to win jobs in the Middle Eastern state. Fears of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, it seemed, were trumped by more practical considerations, like how to support families.

"It took me seven hours by train to reach here. I have been coming to the venue for two days, and I'm hoping today I get the slot for the screening test," Gaurav Seni, a 27-year-old high school graduate, told Nikkei Asia as he waited on a university lawn with a crowd of other men.

Seni said he has a debt of 500,000 rupees (US$6,000). "If I get this job, I can take my family out of the debt ... within a few months," he said, pointing to the promised monthly salary of 137,000 rupees.

So far, Haryana and the state of Uttar Pradesh have advertised for skilled workers to interview and test for jobs in Israel, which has turned to countries such as India and Sri Lanka to fill labor shortages in sectors like construction and farming. An initial 10,000 workers were due to be hired from India.

The program is not without controversy, over both risks and ethics. Critics have slammed India's arrangement with Israel for potentially endangering workers by sending them to a conflict zone, and for indirectly helping Israel strip jobs from Palestinian workers.

Roughly 90,000 Palestinians were reportedly employed in Israel's construction sector. But due to the conflict, which started when Hamas militants stormed into Israeli communities and killed around 1,200 people in October, Israel has canceled the work permits of thousands of such workers. Meanwhile, over 25,000 people have been killed in Israel's campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to authorities in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a group of industry organizations, denounced the recruitment and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to terminate the arrangement with Israel.

"CITU appeals to the Indian workers not to fall prey to the abetment of the BJP-led government ... and states for going for jobs in Israel, which is itself a conflict-torn area and its [government] is rendering thousands of Palestinians working in Israel jobless while carrying out genocidal attacks on Palestine," Tapan Sen, CITU's general secretary, said in a statement.

Israel has strongly denied accusations of genocide leveled at the United Nations, insisting its war is in self-defense.

The Indian government, which has forged closer ties with Israel in recent years, has defended the hiring drive.

"We have mobility partnerships with several countries across the world. And we now have an agreement with Israel as well. The agreement started long before the conflict erupted," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters last Thursday. Stressing there is no basis for concern, he added, "Let me tell you that labor laws in Israel are robust and strict and provide protection of labor rights and migrant rights."

Before the war, such protections had been called into question by rights groups, highlighting alleged cases of mistreatment of Thai workers -- another key source of labor for the small country of about 9 million people.

But Jaiswal stressed, "We are conscious of our responsibility to provide safety and security to our people who are abroad. When the conflict erupted in Israel, we launched Operation Ajay for all those people who wanted to come back," referring to repatriation flights. "Having said that, we remain committed to safe migration of our people."

For workers like Seni, the decision is simple.

"Risks are everywhere, and we need to take them. I can't just sit at home and starve my family," he said. He was also confident that he would not end up working near Israel's tense borders. "Why would the government send us to some unsafe place?"

The enthusiasm for the jobs also highlights India's own challenge of finding enough work for its population -- now the world's largest at over 1.4 billion. The overall unemployment rate stood at 8.65% in December 2023, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. For the age 20-24 bracket, it was reported as high as 44%.

Kamal Kishore, a 24-year-old arts graduate from Uttar Pradesh, said he had faced multiple rejections for jobs in India. That, he said, was why he had been "shivering in the cold since 5 am." to try out for carpentry work in Israel.

"We have huge unemployment rates in India. Even though I have the required qualifications, I faced challenges in securing a job," he said. "I belong to a poor family, and earning to support my family is important despite the potential risks."

His reasoning was similar to Seni's. "What do we have to do with the war?" he said. "Death can come anywhere, but at least I can earn better in Israel and support my family."

Courtesy: Nikkei Asia