Israeli Businesses Wish To Recruit Indian Workers Amid War On Gaza, Indian Trade Union Reject Plan

As Israel's farming and construction sectors lose their workforce to the ongoing war, Israeli businesses are looking to India to fill the gap. But that may be easy to think but difficult to carry out as Indian trade unions have rejected such a move. 

Despite the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there existed an economic relationship between the two territories. In recent years, that relationship was on an upswing as more and more Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were being granted jobs in Israel. That relationship, however, was snapped on October 7 when Hamas mounted the worst-ever attack on Israel and Israel responded with a war on Gaza. 

From the onset, the Israeli leadership had declared that it would defeat Hamas in this war, a group it considers a terrorist organisation and one that has ruled Gaza since 2007. In 2006, Hamas won legislative elections in Gaza and then drove out Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian party that governs the internationally-recognised Palestinian Authority (PA) that runs the West Bank. Gaza and the West Bank together form the envisioned State of Palestine. For the purpose of the war, Israel mobilised a force of 360,000 personnel in the largest ever muster, which meant that a large number of Israelis engaged in regular jobs were diverted for war. This compounded the Israeli workforce crunch.

To tackle such workforce crunch from the dual brunt —the loss of Palestinian workers after the Hamas attack and the loss of Israeli workers after the diversion to war— Israel has turned to India and has sought around 100,000 workers for its construction sector alone, according to VOA News.

"Right now, we are negotiating with India. We are waiting on a decision of the Israeli government to approve that and we hope to engage 50-100,000 workers from India to be able to run the whole sector and bring it back to normal," said Israeli Builders Association (IBA) Haim Feiglin to VOA News.

Ten Indian trade unions, however, have rejected the proposal. Under the banner of the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions and Independent Federation, the unions termed any such employment of Indian workers "immoral and disastrous". The unions termed the Israeli war on Gaza a "genocide".

"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 dehumanised and commodified Indian workers. Such a step will amount to complicity on India’s part with Israel’s ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians and will naturally have adverse implications for Indian workers in the entire region," said the unions, as per The Wire.

The unions further said, "India’s trade union movement must rise in solidarity with Palestinian workers and reject this disastrous idea. Let’s resolve that we will not work to replace Palestinian workers in Israel."

While the unions have rejected the idea of Indian workers going to Israel as the step being an act of support to Israel, observers have also noted that foreign nationals —including Indians— taking up more jobs in Israel would mean that the space for employment for Palestinians would shrink, increasing their hardships.

Prof. PR Kumaraswamy of Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) Centre for West Asian Studies told DW News, "Earlier, people from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka have been present as caregivers. Their presence in the construction industry is relatively new and is an outcome of the cycle of violence. At the same time, without any domestic employment opportunities, Palestinians are heavily dependent on the Israeli labour market, and influx of more foreigners or reduction in the number of Palestinians into the Israeli labour market will increase their hardships." 

The stance of Indian unions is in line with the position of the Congress and Left parties who have been unequivocally opposed Israel in the ongoing conflict. While the Congress party has slammed the Narendra Modi government's abstention at a United Nations (UN) vote on Israel, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has termed the Israeli war on Gaza a "genocide". 

UK-based human rights group FairSquare has also urged New Delhi to not send Indian workers to Israel, saying any move to replace the Palestinian workers would be "unjust" on the part of India, according to DW News.

"As one of the world's largest democracies, India should devote its efforts to ensuring a cease-fire, not profiting from more violence," FairSquare Director Nicholas McGeehan was quoted as saying.

While the Israelis look forward to fill the immediate gaps in the workforce with Indian workers, the Narendra Modi government has not addressed the issue. It said that there are long-running efforts to have a broader exchange of workers but nothing is on the cards in the short-run.

"With Israel, there are already a number of Indian workers employed there, especially in the caregiver sector. Since, I think, 2022, we have been discussing a bilateral framework in the construction and caregiver sectors, but this is a long-term initiative and I am not, as I said, aware of any specific requests or numbers that have been floating around. So, that is what I would like to mention here," said Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi last month. 

Israel has indicated that it wishes to cease to have any responsibilities, economic or civic, for Gaza after the war. Even though Israel vacated Gaza in 2005, which it had occupied since 1967, it was responsible for providing the Palestinian enclave with up to a third of water supply and some electricity as well. Israel also provided employment to Palestinians after granting them work permits. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told an Israeli parliamentary committee last month that, after the war and defeat of Hamas, Israel would not have any such responsibility. 

The Israeli war on Gaza has generated massive outrage in several quarters of the world with massive rallies being taken out in opposition to Israel. The month-long bombardment of Gaza has flattened large swathes of Gazan neighbourhoods, with some estimates saying up to a third of all houses have been destroyed or damaged. Around 1.5 million Palestinians have been displaced internally and Gazan authorities say over 13,000 have been killed, with over half of them being children and women. Even though there are frequent aid shipments, they are a mere trickle and the region is short of food, medicines, fuel, and other essentials. The operations of Gazan hospitals, which have also come under attack in the war, have also been affected by the attacks and shortage of drugs and fuel. While there have been frequent calls for a ceasefire considering the mounting toll in Gaza, Israel has only agreed to temporary pauses in attacks as it says that a ceasefire would only allow Hamas and its allied groups to regroup and rearm.