After evicting thousands of hardworking Palestinians, Israel is now facing an acute shortage of labour, especially construction workers in the country.
To fill up the space of evicted labourers, Israel has turned to India and now reportedly wants to hire as many as 100,000 construction labourers from the country.
To fill up the space of evicted labourers, Israel has turned to India and now reportedly wants to hire as many as 100,000 construction labourers from the country.
Palestinians constituted around 25 percent of the workforce in the construction industry.
Immoral & Dehumanising to Send Labour: CITU Member
"Israel is committing genocide by declaring one side war on Palestinians on the name of killing Hamas militants," AR Sindhu, secretary of CITU, told Sputnik India.
Sindhu also said that the "export" of Indian labour to Israel has "no legality and it is illegal."
"Nothing could be more immoral and dehumanising than this for India to send construction labour to Israel… As a labour union we don't support the idea of replacing Palestine workers with Indians. We stand in solidarity with Palestine," Sindhu emphasized.
Sindhu stressed that Israeli leading companies are inviting Indians to work in an environment resembling a war zone, where they are deprived of social security, workplace safety, and even personal safety for these migrant individuals.
Inhumane Behaviour At Israel Detention Camp
"Labourers are most important part of any civilisation or society. At the same time, they are also most vulnerable as they are uneducated about their rights and belongs to economic weaker class. We have often seen examples worldwide when corporates in time of crisis easily ignores the workers, or pressurise them to work in inhuman conditions," Sunil Kumar, a Delhi-based activist, who works for Indian workers, told Sputnik India.
"Things further deteriorate for them, if they belong to other countries-- as the foreign country labour law is not applicable to them, and they have language problems and most of the time they do not even correct people to each out for help," Kumar added.
Meanwhile, several human rights organisations reported the brutal and inhumane treatment of workers in Israel's detention camps.
The labourers who were recently released from these camps shared their physical and psychological torture testimonies. Many Palestinian workers even revealed that they were stripped naked, given electric shocks, etc, in these camps.
Sidhu said that when Israel ignores the United Nations' request for a ceasefire, will they listen to these workers?
Israel Builders Association vice president Haim Feiglin told American-state broadcaster VOA that the industry was looking to hire 50,000 to 100,000 Indian workers to bring the industry "back to normal".
However, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not received any "specific request" from Israel.
Last week, Arindam Bagchi, MEA spokesperson, stated that India and Israel had been engaging in a "bilateral framework" discussion in the construction and caregiving sectors since last year.
"… 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," the Indian official clarified.
In May this year, India and Israel signed an agreement to allow around 42,000 Indians to work in Israel's construction and healthcare sectors.