One lakh Indian construction workers may replace Palestinians in Israel

The Israeli construction industry is reportedly waiting for the government to allow companies to recruit one lakh construction workers from India to replace the 90,000 Palestinians whose work permits have been cancelled by Israel after the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

The vice president of the Israel Builders Association, Haim Feiglin, was quoted by Voice of America, “Right now, we are negotiating with India. We are waiting for the decision of the Israeli government to approve that. And we hope to engage 50,000 to 1,00,000 workers from India to be able to run the whole sector and bring it back to normal.”

There was no response from India’s external affairs ministry.

In May, Israel and India signed a deal to allow 42,000 Indian construction workers and nurses to work in Israel.