New Delhi: Amid the war that continues to rage in Gaza, 64 Indian workers flew to Israel Tuesday to take up construction jobs previously held by Palestinians. After Hamas’ 7 October attack, Israel cancelled work permits of Palestinians and imposed restrictions on crossings.
On Tuesday, Israel’s Ambassador to India Naor Gilon said a farewell event was held for the Indian construction workers. “Today we had a farewell event from (sic) the first batch of 60+ Indian construction workers going to Israel under the G2G agreement…I’m sure that the workers become (sic) ‘ambassadors’ of the great people-to-people relations between India and Israel,” said the diplomat in a statement on X.
Though the Israel ambassador claims the Indian workers are under a government-to-government agreement between India and Israel, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) had, in a press briefing on 9 March, said this agreement was “still in works”.
Last month also saw the death of Indian national Pat Nibin Maxwell, hailing from Kerala, who was killed in a missile attack that hit in northern Israel. The missile was reportedly fired from Lebanon by militant outfit, Hezbollah, in support of Hamas. Shortly after Maxwell’s death, the Indian embassy in Israel issued an advisory urging Indians, especially those working in or visiting border areas in north and south Israel, to relocate to safer areas.
The organisation of Indian workers being sent to Israel is being carried out by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) — a public private partnership in which the Indian Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) holds 49 percent of the share capital, while the private sector has the balance, 51 percent.
ThePrint reached the MEA via calls for clarification on the government-to-government agreement and what protections will be given to Indian construction workers heading to Israel. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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Plans for more?
According to information provided by diplomatic sources, on 15 November, 2023, the NSDC received a demand of 10,000 construction workers from the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA), an Israeli government agency. When NSDC communicated with the PIB, it said that there was a demand for four job roles: formwork (3,000 workers), iron bending (3,000 workers), plastering (2,000 workers) and ceramic tiling (2,000 workers). Candidates would get a minimum salary of 1.35 lakh, excluding other emoluments.
On 16 January this year, a professional test took place in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. A total of 9,727 candidates had qualified for the test. Air India has agreed to ferry the candidates to Israel and approximately 1,500 more candidates are expected to travel to Israel this month.
There are plans to arrange additional charter flights so that the maximum number of workers can travel in shorter periods.
India is anticipating a demand from Israel for an additional 15,000 workers. Maharashtra and Telangana have expressed interest in organising professional test drives in their respective states.
In December, 2023, though, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan had responded to a Parliament question in Rajya Sabha where he had said that there was “no discussion” with Israel regarding possible replacement of Palestinian workers with Indian labourers. However, days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu had a phone call, following which an Israeli readout said the two leaders had discussed “advancing the arrival of foreign workers from India to the State of Israel”.
ThePrint had asked the MEA for a clarification at the time during a weekly press briefing, to which the ministry backed Muraleedharan’s remarks.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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