Hundreds of Israeli growers have been demonstrating outside prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to draw attention to a dire shortage of labour at the peak of the capsicum season, following government action to reduce the number of foreign agricultural workers in Israel.
Growers held up signs saying: “Bibi is Killing Agriculture” and “No Workers - No Export” as their leaders gave speeches against the government’s agricultural policy.
Ezra Rabins, head of the central Arava regional council, said: “I’m sorry that instead of staying in our greenhouses - instead of picking peppers - we had to come here to demonstrate about an agreement that the government ignores and in so doing is imposing an economic disaster on growers, who have been left with no harvest workers at the peak of the season. Bringing Thai agricultural workers to Israel has to be done according to professional reasons - not political. The government’s conduct is shameful and disgraceful.”
He added that Thai workers come to Israel to earn an honest living and contribute to and support the regional Arava economy.
Some 60 per cent of Israel’s agricultural exports comes from Arava’s 2,500 hectares of agricultural land.
Growers are demanding the government reverses its decision to reduce the number of foreign agricultural workers in Israel and open the country’s borders once more to legitimate foreign workers, as well as cancelling taxes imposed on those growers who employ foreign labour.
A government official said: “We are doing our best to find a solution.”
