This past year was a tremendously difficult one for foreign workers in Israel. More than 30 Thai agriculture workers were taken hostage on October 7, nine of whom are still held in Gaza. Nearly 50 foreign workers from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the Philippines were killed on October 7. Numerous other foreign workers had to flee areas decimated by terrorism and deal with Israel’s changing security regulations.
The difficulty of this past year for foreign workers is made clear in the annual report from the foreign workers’ call center, which was released last week. According to the report, published by the Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI), which runs the call center, foreign workers reached out 32% more in 2023 than 2022. Overall, the center responded to 7,504 inquiries from 4,394 foreign workers, 90% of which were successfully addressed.
CIMI attributed the rise in inquiries to the bilateral agreements allowing more foreign workers to come to Israel as well as the outbreak of the war.
Shirly Raisin Sasson, director of the Population and Immigration Authority’s Bilateral Agreements Division, noted that the call center recognized its importance when the war broke out and worked to ensure immediate response to workers’ requests from workers, including those asking to be evacuated from villages in which massacres had taken place, those requesting basic supplies, those in need or mental health support, those looking to leave Israel, and more. “Starting on October 7 in the morning hours, the call center opened an immediate help line for workers in the Gaza envelope and many other parts of the country and publicized rules and regulations for protection during extended hours of response,” Sasson wrote in the introduction to the annual report.
“The ability of foreign workers to turn to the call center during a time of crisis and receive immediate help was widely praised by the [workers’] many countries and proved its great vitality once again,” Sasson continued. “These days, we pray for peace and for the return of all the hostages, Israeli and foreign alike, and pray that quiet and security will return to our country.”
CIMI founder and board chair Arnon Mantver said that the call center is continuing to help foreign workers during the escalating violence in northern Israel. “Cooperation with the Immigration Authority bears fruit during times of emergency as well,” he said. “The call center’s operation involves initiative and isn’t just passive, and it’s an important support to foreign workers in stressful situations.”
More than half of the inquiries were requests to clarify information, with 20% of those requests regarding employers, staffing companies and private placement offices, 10% regarding wages, 9% regarding the security situation, and 1% regarding workplace safety and injuries. The plurality of callers, 47%, were migrants from China, with smaller percentages of workers originating from Moldova, the Philippines, Thailand, Nepal, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, India, Uzbekistan, and Georgia.
Between January and September 2023, the call center received an average of 505 inquiries each month. With the outbreak of the war, that number rose to 1,590, settling around 700 in the months of November and December. The plurality of calls about the war, 188, related to evacuation from areas affected by the war; an additional 132 related to wages, 130 to leaving Israel permanently, 122 to reentry visas, 81 to financial support, 79 to food security, 62 to the foreign worker deposit, 50 to lack of access to bomb shelters, 40 to unemployment, 39 to mental health support, and 14 to returning to Israel.
Over the past three years, several new bilateral agreements have been signed with countries such as the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Georgia, allowing workers from these countries to be employed in the fields of home health care, hospitality, and agriculture. Previous bilateral agreements had allowed workers from Moldova, China, and Ukraine to work in construction and workers from Thailand to work in agriculture.
In 2023, 18,583 foreign construction workers came to Israel under these bilateral agreements—9,988 from China, 7,268 from Moldova, and 1,327 from Ukraine. Nearly 3,000 of those workers reached out to the CIMI call center, most of whom were seeking to clarify information.
Bilateral agreements brought 15,824 agricultural workers to Israel last year, the vast majority of whom came from Thailand and a few hundred of whom came from Sri Lanka. More than 400 foreign agricultural workers reached out to the call center, mostly regarding employers, staffing companies and private placement offices.
More than 4,500 home health care workers, mostly from the Philippines and several hundred from Sri Linka, came to Israel through bilateral agreements last year, of whom 539 reached out to CIMI. Around 1,000 foreign nursing home workers were also employed in Israel under bilateral agreements, nearly all of whom were from Nepal along with 8 Georgians. More than 250 of those workers reached out to the call center.
In the field of hospitality, 1,673 Filipino workers were employed in Israel through a bilateral agreement. More than 200 of those workers reached out to CIMI, about half of whom had questions regarding the war.
The foreign worker’s call center was founded in 2012 as a joint project between CIMI and the Population and Immigration Authority, in order to realize aspects of some bilateral agreements relating to workers’ rights and foreign workers’ arrival to Israel. According to CIMI, those bilateral agreements have saved workers around $173 million that would have been spent on extralegal brokerage fees requiring workers to pay to work in Israel.
In light of the shortage of workers caused by the war, in large part due to the refusal to allow Palestinian workers into Israel, the government agreed to allow entry of foreign workers into various industries without bilateral agreements. That decision has raised concerns that foreign workers brought in without bilateral agreements will be exploited, as well as concerns that workers with substandard skills will be brought in.
This article was translated and edited for context by Leah Schwartz.
