Around two months ago, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel declared that “it is legally prohibited to employ foreign workers in communities that have been evacuated” due to the war. He explained that “the obligation to protect the life of every human overrides any need to turn on the irrigation systems on agricultural land that has been evacuated.” Arbel made his comments after another Thai worker – 42-year-old Nisan Meeram – was killed on October 11 by a blast from unexploded ordnance on Kibbutz Yiron, where he worked in the apple orchard. Just a few weeks later, another tragedy occurred, when, on October 31, four Thai workers were killed by a Hezbollah rocket while working on agricultural land close to Metula. The four – Akkapon Wannasai, Prayat Pilasram, Kaweesak Papanang and Thana Tichantuek – were killed alongside their employers, Omer Weinstein, from Kibbutz Dafna.

Why were they working so close to the border fence, if, as the interior minister explicitly claimed, it is against the law? The answer is simple: Arbel’s media declaration is not based on an existing legal framework. In other words, "there is no law that says it is forbidden to employ foreign workers in evacuated areas," as Dr. Yahal Kurlander, an expert in the field of foreign workers in agriculture and a lecturer at Tel Hai College, explains “The only regulation when it comes to employing foreign workers in war zones is determined by the military – and the IDF says that they can work anywhere there is access to a bomb shelter. The community of migrant workers from Thailand in Israel has already paid a heavy price during this war and Israel must do more to protect them. This responsibility rests with the ministries and with the employers.”

Shira Abbo, the spokesperson for the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, confirms that the interior minister’s statement was “devoid of content,” adding that it was directed primarily at foreign governments, in an attempt to “reassure them and make sure that they keep sending their nationals to work in Israel.”

Indeed, after the tragedy, while meeting with the Thai ambassador to Israel, Arbel said that he had “contacted the defense minister and head of the IDF’s Northern Command to ensure that foreign workers are no longer taken to dangerous areas, including those close to the border. Human lives come before everything else,” he added, “and the State of Israel is committed to protecting the lives of its citizens and the foreign workers in our midst.” Better late than never?  Shomrim talked to several farmers in the conflict areas and the agricultural areas adjacent to the fence; it appears that they only went out into the area anyway with the permission of the army. (see below).

Shomrim asked Interior Minister Moshe Arbel for his response. His bureau told us to contact the Population and Immigration Authority, which submitted the following response: “In general, foreign workers employed in Israel are under the responsibility of their direct employer. Responsibility for ensuring that they do not work in combat zones close to the border rests with the IDF, which either permits or prohibits the request based on the conditions. Despite this and in an effort to ensure that the foreign workers’ lives are protected, the Population and Immigration Authority has sent repeated notices to people employing foreign workers, with instructions to them and their employees to adhere to IDF and Homefront Command instructions in order to ensure the workers’ security. Entering a military zone where foreign workers are not supposed to be, without the IDF’s approval, is forbidden.”

If we untangle that knot of words, we understand that contrary to Arbel’s statement, there is no legal prohibition. Sole authority rests with the defense establishment – as has been the case for more than a year.

George paid $5,400 to a manpower contractor – and was injured

Since the start of the war on October 7 last year, no fewer than 60 agricultural workers from various countries have been killed in Israel. Most of them came from Thailand and 39 Thai workers were killed on October 7 and 31 more were taken hostage by Hamas. The bodies of two of them are still being held in the Gaza Strip. Similarly, 10 workers from Nepal – officially known as ‘agricultural students’ – have been killed, along with two from Tanzania and one from Cambodia.

On the northern front, six foreign agricultural workers have been killed since the start of the war. The first of them was Nibin Maxwell from the southern Indian state of Kerala. He was killed on March 4, when a rocket was fired at the orchard he was working in on Moshav Margaliot. Among the seven other Indian agricultural workers who were injured in the attack, was Joseph George Bush, who was evacuated by helicopter to Beilinson Hospital for treatment.

In a conversation with Shomrim, Bush – who goes by George – recalled the traumatic incident. “Beforehand, I had worked for two weeks in the chicken coop on Margaliot. One day, our employer came to us and said that we would be working outdoors and that he needed our help. The job was to trim trees in the almond orchard. While we were cutting down branches, missiles were falling. I saw my friend get killed. I was hit by shrapnel in my face, including in my eyes and ears. I still can’t see well, and I have to use a hearing aid. I was hospitalized for four months, and I underwent two operations. I still have one more surgery ahead of me.”

While he was in hospital, George’s wife came to Israel to be by his side – but only after getting special approval from the Population and Immigration Authority to enter Israel. In order to travel back to India to see his daughter, George needed a special visa allowing him to exit and reenter Israel. At first, he says, his employer did not want to give him the visa, but, following the intervention of the Kav La’oved NGO, he and his wife traveled to India to reunite with their daughter. While he was in India, George’s family beseeched him not to return to Israel – a logical request given the emotional and physical trauma he went through and given that the war itself is still ongoing.  But George wanted to come back. More accurately, he did not have much of a choice. He was swimming in debt, much of which was due to the loan he took out to pay the $5,400 commission to a private manpower contractor. This practice, which turns migrants into indentured workers and limits their freedom, was once very common in Israel and is now making a reappearance in the lives of migrant workers.

Thus, before the war, foreign workers were not forced to pay commissions to private manpower firms. This was because the government had introduced legislation to cover the issue, which ruled that bringing migrant workers into the country would only be allowed if there were a bilateral agreement in place. Since the war started, however, in an effort to increase the number of foreign workers with immediate effect, Israel permitted private manpower agencies to resume operations. Some of these companies take a commission of between $5,000 and $9,000 from each worker – most of whom come from underprivileged countries and who come to Israel in order to provide income for the families they leave behind.

"I was hit by shrapnel in my face, including in my eyes and ears. I still can’t see well, and I have to use a hearing aid. I was hospitalized for four months, and I underwent two operations. I still have one more surgery ahead of me.”

This is why – despite his serious injury and the trauma he experiences – George is still going through a war he has nothing to do with and continues to work under the constant threat of rocket attacks. While he has moved from Moshav Margaliot, he now lives not far from there. He lives in the Arab city of Tamra in the Galilee, where he works in the avocado and peach orchards. He is there with a friend who was also hurt in the incident at Margaliot. Since his employer has agricultural land close to the Lebanon border, George also spends days working there. “I’m scared,” he says, “but I keep working..”

Like George, many of the Thai migrant workers in Israel have uploaded videos to social media, documenting their work in the fields while rockets and drones fly above their heads. Some of them wear helmets and flimsy protective clothing while out in the open. In a post on Instagram, one worker on the northern front explains the dilemma they are facing – between their own safety and the need to make a living: “We have to work for money.”

“We all knew that there’s a war, but we thought that the State of Israel was protecting not only its citizens but also the foreign workers employed here,” says Shany Babu. “They also thought that the Iron Dome would protect them from missiles. That’s why people came.”

3,000 foreign workers through private manpower agencies

It is not just the foreign workers who find themselves with limited options. The same can be said for the State of Israel itself, since the agriculture industry is utterly dependent on foreign labor, as Shomrim has reported in the past. Before the October 7 attacks, there were 29,000 Thai workers in Israel and another 10,000 from the Palestinian Authority. After the outbreak of the war, Bangkok laid on rescue planes to take thousands of Thai nationals back to safety and to their families. Moreover, Palestinian workers were barred from entering Israel the moment the hostilities erupted and the volunteers who turned up to help in the Gaza-border communities in March – which was, of course, a heart-warming gesture but little more – was an ad hoc and temporary solution. Even the Ministry of Agriculture's Effort to encourage Israelis to work in agriculture by handing out special grants was a short-lived venture. The Ministry of Agriculture issued a directive to support farmers who employ up to 10 Israeli workers – but, in 2023, just 15 such requests for support were submitted to the government.

Given that there was no domestic solution to the problem, the government once again decided to put its faith in foreign workers. According to Agriculture Ministry figures, there are currently around 40,000 migrant workers in Israel employed in agriculture. This is similar to the number before the war, after the government expanded the quota of foreign workers to 70,000. Among other things, the state allowed foreign workers from Thailand who had already worked in Israel to return for a second five-year stint. Previously, this was not allowed. Similarly, foreign workers started arriving from other countries, such as India, Sri Lanka, and Malawi. As mentioned, some of those who came to Israel were forced to pay commissions to contractors from private manpower companies. Most of these are from India, but some of those from Thailand were also forced to pay this commission, since the Thai government froze the bilateral agreement with Israel after the war broke out and, for three months, Israel allowed private agencies to bring foreign workers to the country. It was only in May that the bilateral agreement was renewed.

According to Kav La’oved statistics, around 3,000 foreign workers came to Israel through private manpower agencies, of whom 800 are from India. The obvious question to ask at this point is: Why do foreign workers even agree to come to Israel during the war? The Thai workers may be slightly more familiar with the reality here – certainly those who are returning. This is not the case for those who come here from southern India. “We all knew that there’s a war, but we thought that the State of Israel was protecting not only its citizens but also the foreign workers employed here,” says Shany Babu, a foreign worker from India who is in contact with many of the workers from Kerala and works with them, on behalf of Kav La’oved, on whatever bureaucratic issues they are facing. “They also thought that the Iron Dome would protect them from missiles. That’s why people came.”

“If someone comes to me and says that he cannot go on and that the anxiety is too much, we are open to that", says Dubi Amitai, the chairman of the Farmers’ Federation who comes from Metula. "It creates a manpower problem in the north.”

‘We only work where we’re allowed’

Although according to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture, the number of foreign workers has returned to pre-war levels, northern farmers report a lack of workers - Israeli or foreign. “A year ago, we had a quote of 14 Thai workers,” says the foreman on one kibbutz in northern Israel. “They raised that to 32, but we are not able to bring them here. Currently, there are 11 Thai workers. Contracted laborers [usually from the Arab sector in Israel] won’t come. There are very few volunteers, and they are sporadic. It’s also hard to figure out a proper timetable for work because the security instructions change from day to day.”

Given the increased threat, farmers have started to deploy mobile shelters on their land, for themselves and their workers. One major problem is that the workers cannot always make it to the shelters in time when the sirens are activated; another is how feasible it is to continue working under the constant threat of rocket attacks. Foreign workers are not only employed in evacuated communities close to the border – some of them live there, like others who are classified as essential workers or are members of the community’s rapid response team. In other locations, in contrast, employers have found more southerly accommodation for their employees; the foreign workers who work in Metula, for example, sleep in a hostel in Yesud Hama’ala, some 30 kilometers to the south.

Dubi Amitai, the chairman of the Farmers’ Federation who comes from Metula, says that in his community “we can feel the damage. We are operating according to the instructions issued by the Homefront Command and the IDF. We only work where we’re allowed. A few weeks ago, for example, we were not permitted to work in the area known as Metula North and all the land there went untouched. None of the apples were harvested – which is exactly like throwing fruit into the trash. I would estimate that there are tens of thousands of dunams in that condition.”

Amitai adds that, following the tragic incident in Metula, some of the foreign workers told him they wanted to go home. “If someone comes to me and says that he cannot go on and that the anxiety is too much, we are open to that. But they want to move to somewhere else in Israel – the center or the south of the country – and that creates a manpower problem in the north.”

At the same time, not all of the foreign workers are leaving the north. The business manager of Kibbutz Dafna, Uri Shoval, says that none of the 10 Thai workers employed on the kibbutz has asked to leave – even after the deaths in Metula. The workers in Dafna live in the kibbutz itself, along with the handful of members who have remained. “They are afraid just like we are all afraid. No one enjoys working in a warzone,” Shoval says. “There’s one part of the kibbutz that is more exposed and we try not to go there. We have mobile bomb shelters in the agricultural areas, and we are doing the best we can under difficult security conditions. If Israeli people want to eat avocados, someone has to pick them.”