Unworkable: Swapping Palestinian workers with Indians

The government has denied that there are requests by Israel to export 100,000 Indians to replace Palestinian workers. Glossing over such reports, a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said the government was not aware of any specific requests and if taken up, the initiative would be a “long-term” issue.

Yet, India signed the Framework Agreement on facilitation of Temporary Employment of Workers in Specific Labour Market Sectors with Israel on May 9 this year. This was done during the visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to enable 42,000 Indian workers to go to Israel. Of these, 34,000 were earmarked for the construction industry. After the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Israel’s labour shortage became even more critical,