When hamas decided it would be a great idea to invade northern Israel, kill at least 1,200 citizens – most of them innocent civilians – and take about 250 hostages, I wonder if they thought about the 20,000 or so Gazans who, among other foreign nationals, were employed in Israel and brought their earned money into the Gaza economy.
Well, not at all surprisingly, they can kiss that goodbye.
Excerpted from Yosi Dayan’s article for The Jerusalem Post:
So far, about 1,200 workers from India have arrived in Israel. About another 1,200 more workers from India are now going through an absorption and training process. In total, by May, about 5,000 workers from India will arrive and another 5,000 workers will have gone through a screening and training process in preparation for their arrival in Israel.
(Eldad) Nitzan (Chairman of the Foreign Workers’ Manpower Corporations in the Construction Industry at the Chamber of Commerce) said: “By the end of June, more than 10,000 foreign workers from India will be employed in Israel, and at the same time, the process of absorbing about 10,000 foreign workers from other countries such as Georgia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, and more will begin.
“The arrival of foreign workers will save the construction industry, which is currently in collapse, and most of the construction sites are closed.”
The trend is to bring about 40,000 more workers to Israel to complete a quota of 65,000 foreign workers because Palestinian workers who worked in the construction industry no longer come to work in Israel.
These workers will be very happy to find employment and be paid in Israeli wages. Just as, I am certain, the Gazan workers were. Until October 7.
Actions have consequences This is one of the consequences for hamas’s murderous, barbaric act of war against Israel.
But, it should be pointed out, there might be a positive consequence as well.
Because of the loss of jobs in Israel, and the concomitant loss of revenue…
…hamas – or whichever Israel-hating group takes over for them – may actually have to use some of the billions handed over to Gaza in foreign aid for the people, instead of for building up the military to attack Israel and making a few “leaders” who couldn’t care less about their people fabulously wealthy.
It wouldn’t begin to compensate for what happened on October 7. But at least it would be a refreshing change of direction…
