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Rohtak city, India On a very cold January morning, and the sun had not yet risen, Pramod Sharma stood shivering outside the main entrance of the Maharshi Dayanand University campus in Rohtak, a small town in the northern Indian state of Haryana, located 84 kilometers (52 km) away. miles) from New Delhi.
Sharma, 43, joined hundreds of other men to take a skill test to work as a carpenter in Israel, the first time the construction sector has opened up to Indians who have already found work there mainly as caregivers.
More than 100 days after Israel’s war on Gaza, a labor shortage crisis emerged in the country, perpetuated by its decision to prevent tens of thousands of Palestinians from working in Israel.
It was reported in October that Israeli construction companies asked their government in Tel Aviv to allow them to employ about 100,000 Indian workers to replace Palestinians whose work permits were suspended following the start of the aggression on Gaza.
In India, Israel’s frantic search for employment has, in turn, revealed a discrepancy between the claims of economic success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government – which insists that rising GDP has contributed to the country becoming a global power – and the lived experiences of millions of people. As India faces general elections, the unemployment rate is estimated at about 8%.
In December, the Haryana state government announced 10,000 jobs for construction workers in Israel, including 3,000 for carpenters and blacksmiths, 2,000 for floor tiles, and 2,000 for plasterers. The announcement also stated that the salary for these jobs would be about 6,100 shekels (about 1,625 US dollars per month), in a country where the average per capita income is about 300 dollars per month.
In the same month, Uttar Pradesh – India’s most populous state – issued a similar announcement for 10,000 jobs for workers. The recruitment drive reportedly began in the state capital, Lucknow, on Thursday, attracting hundreds of applicants.
Earlier this month, recruiters from Israel arrived in India for screenings.
An official from the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam Limited, one of the state government agencies overseeing the recruitment drive, told Al Jazeera English website that an average of 500 to 600 applicants per day were screened during the week-long recruitment drive that ended on Sunday in the town. Rohtak.
lifetime opportunity
Sharma came to Rohtak with a group of about 40 workers from Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, located more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of Rohtak.
Sharma told Al Jazeera that he initially underwent an oral test conducted by an employment agency in Bihar on topics related to construction work.
He continued: “They told me that I had passed the first round, and that an Israeli client would now come to Rohtak for a second round of interviews, and that I should come here.
“We have been sleeping inside the bus this summer for the past three days and using the bathroom of a restaurant on the side of a road while waiting for our inspections.”
According to Sharma – who lost his job in the construction field in New Delhi during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in 2020 – working in Israel seems to be a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to escape from poverty.
Since then, he has been working under a government employment system with a salary of less than $3 a day for 5 hours of work in a field. But he still struggles to provide three satisfying meals for his wife, two children, and a sister to support.
He said: “If I can get this job in Israel, I will be able to support my children and save enough to marry my sister.”
Shiv Prakash, another construction worker from Bihar, said that the salary offered by Israeli companies is three times more than what he received previously. The 39-year-old asked: “Who wants to miss an opportunity like this?”
Vikas Kumar, 32, from Panipat district in Haryana, also took the skills test. He said that Israeli officials have prepared models simulating various construction works, and the job applicant is required to give a live demonstration in the final round of tests.
Kumar works 12 hours a day as a plasterer and earns $120 (10,000 Indian rupees) a month. He hopes to secure a job in Israel to support his family of 6 members.
Israelis and foreign workers flee war
The Israeli economy suffered a severe blow on October 7 when the Islamic Resistance Movement launched…agitation“An unprecedented attack on its territory, killing 1,200 people. Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 24,620 Palestinians, including 16,000 women and children, in Gaza.
The war also forced nearly 500,000 Israelis and more than 17,000 foreign workers to leave the country, according to data from the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority. In addition, about 764,000 Israelis – roughly one-fifth of Israel’s workforce – are out of work due to evacuations, school closures, or reserve soldiers being called up to join the war.
The Israeli construction sector depends mainly on foreign workers, the majority of whom are Palestinians. However, the Israeli government suspended the work permits of more than 100,000 Palestinian workers after the start of the aggression on Gaza.
While Israel attributes the reason to its search for workers in India, its government was working on a plan to bring them in more than 8 months ago. In May 2023, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen signed an agreement with his Indian counterpart, Subramaniam Jaishankar, allowing about 42,000 Indian construction workers to immigrate to Israel for work.
However, workers are not the only ones who want to travel to Israel for work. There are young, educated Indians who are also applying for these jobs in search of a stable income.
Sachin, a 25-year-old final-year engineering student at a Haryana public university, also appeared before the inspection committee. “No one wants to go to a place where missiles are flying overhead, but there are few opportunities in India,” he told Al Jazeera.
In a report conducted by a leading private university, the unemployment rate in India among university graduates under the age of 25 reached 42% after the Corona pandemic, which is a large percentage.
Indian opposition to the deportation of Palestinian workers
But India’s plan to send workers to Israel, which is already involved in genocide of Palestinians, has been criticized by labor groups and the opposition.
10 of India’s largest labor unions issued a strongly worded statement in November, urging the government not to send Indian workers to Israel. The statement said: “There is nothing more immoral and gross than India’s ‘export’ of workers to Israel. India’s mere thought of exporting workers shows a tendency to dehumanize Indian workers and turn them into commodities.”
The Construction Workers’ Federation of India opposed “any attempt to send our country’s poor construction workers to Israel to overcome the worker shortage and support genocide in any way.”
Tapan Kumar Sen, a former Indian parliamentarian and Secretary-General of the Indian Trade Union Center, said that they do not oppose the movement of labor across borders, but this should not come at the expense of Palestinian workers.
He continued, “We want all workers to find work. We do not want to fire anyone from their job and give their job to someone else.” The former parliamentarian added: “Every Indian worker must oppose the exclusion of Palestinian workers and their replacement by Indian workers.”
Clifton de Rosario, national secretary of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions, said the Indian government was acting like a “contractor” to Israel, and that “the idea of sending workers to Israel reminds me of indentured servitude during British colonialism in the 19th century.”
He added, “A state that negotiates to send a section of workers to a specific country with a record of oppressing another community, to replace (others) under any circumstances is unacceptable. Even if there is no conflict, I say this is unacceptable.” .
As criticism grew, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters last week that the government was aware of its responsibility to provide safety and security to Indian citizens abroad. He added that labor laws in Israel were “strong and strict, and provided protection for the rights of workers and immigrants.”
Al Jazeera contacted the Israeli officials conducting the inspections, but they refused to talk or provide information about the recruitment campaign.
Meanwhile, experts say India must carefully evaluate the conditions to which workers in Israel will be subjected, even if they are financially advantageous.
Israel has been accused of violating workers’ rights. According to a report by the organization Human Rights Watch In 2015, Thai workers in the Israeli agricultural sector were paid less than the minimum wage. They also faced unsafe working conditions and were forced to work long hours.
There have also been examples of Indian workers caught up in Middle Eastern conflicts.
The Indian government admitted in March 2018 that 39 Indian workers were killed after being kidnapped by ISIS in Iraq. The armed organization released a group of 46 Indian nurses in July 2014 after they remained in captivity for more than a week.
Hind Modi’s pro-Israel stance
India’s foreign policy throughout history has always supported the Palestinian cause. However, a shift has occurred in this policy in the past decade.
In 2017, it became Narendra Modi The first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel. He also describes his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu Posted as a “close friend” on social media.
Shortly after the war began GazaIn late October, India abstained from voting on the UN General Assembly resolution calling for a ceasefire. Two months later, New Delhi supported another UN resolution demanding a ceasefire.
In India, authorities in several states of the country have banned pro-Palestinian gatherings and arrested people for protesting or even posting messages of solidarity with Palestine on social media.
Former minister and diplomat Mani Shankar Aiyar said India’s policy for at least the past 50 years has been to encourage Indians to go as migrant workers to the Middle East and other parts of the world.
He added that these workers’ remittances to their country are “a very important part of our economy. Therefore, for economic reasons, I would definitely support the idea of Indian workers going to Israel. But, given the context of Israel’s current genocide in the Gaza Strip, this is the worst way for Indians to earn money.” A little money from Israel.”
According to the United Nations report on international migration, remittances sent from Middle Eastern countries to India amounted to $38 billion in 2017.
Many Indians aspiring to work in Israel said that the war in Gaza would not restrain them, and some workers even support Israel in its action against the Palestinians.
Yash Sharma, from Jind in Haryana, who aspires to work in Israel, told Al Jazeera English, “If I am given the opportunity, I am ready to work for the Israeli army.”
There are many like Sharma who have a stronger justification. “I will take my chance,” says Sharma. “It is better to die there than to starve.”
