Israel's hiring drive to employ 10,000 skilled construction workers starts tomorrow

The second nationwide recruitment drive for Indian construction workers heading to Israel will begin in Pune on Sept 16, following Israel's request for 10,000 more skilled construction workers.

The recruitment is part of the deepening cooperation between India and Israel in mobilising skilled labour. Israel has also requested 5,000 caregivers from India who hold certificates from recognised institutes and have completed a caregiving course with at least 990 hours of on-the-job training. A team from Israel's Population, Immigration, and Border Authority (PIBA), including assessors, will visit India next week to conduct skill tests and select suitable candidates.

The recruitment is being conducted under a govt-to-govt agreement signed between India and Israel in Nov 2023. The drive focuses on four specific job roles: framework, iron bending, plastering, and ceramic tiling.

Following deadly war with Hamas, Israel has been recruiting workers from India to fill a labour gap created after it suspended work permits for most Palestinian labourers.

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Israel satisfied with Indian workers?
Recently, MEA cleared air around India-Israel job scheme that "most of the companies" from that country are "satisfied" with the working of the Indian workers employed there in the recent months. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this here in response to a question related to a media report citing some issues associated with recruitment of the Indian workers for employment in Israel.

The report on Tuesday claimed faulty selection under a bilateral jobs scheme under which the Indians would be taken to Israel to work in the construction sector after over one lakh Palestinian workers were banned in the wake of the Hamas attack of October 7 last year.

"We have seen some reports recently. Under the Government-to-Government agreement 4,800 Indians have travelled to Israel in recent months. And as per information that has been provided to us by the Israeli side, most of the Israeli companies are satisfied with the working of the Indian workers," the MEA spokesperson said.

Citing data from the Israeli Embassy, the report claimed that around 5,000 workers each have been recruited through two "pathways": Government-to-Government (G2G) handled by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Business-to-Business (B2B) through private agencies 'overseen' by the MEA.

"I would also like to let you know that the process, the recruitment process of these Indian workers who travelled to Israel, their testing of skills, suitability, all this is decided by the Israeli side themselves. Their agency, PIBA, came here for the recruitment, looked at all these issues," the MEA spokesperson said.

(with agency inputs)