Haryana's 'savage move' to send construction workers to Israel to replace Palestinians

Counterview Desk

UP Joseph, General Secretary, Construction Workers Federation of India (CWFI), opposing the Haryana government's "savage" move to send construction workers to Israel, has said that this follows the Israeli Builders' Association asking for 50,000 -100,000 Indian construction workers to replace Palestinian workers.

Stating that already Israel and India are negotiating about sending 15,000 workers to Israel, CWFI said in a statement, the BJP-led Uttrakhand government is also mulling to send construction workers to Israel, adding, a protest is being organised on 22nd and 23rd December against the move to send construction workers to Israel.

Text:

The Construction Workers Federation of India strongly condemns the Haryana state government’s move to send 10,000 skilled workers out of which a large section will be the construction workers, to Israel. The BJP led Haryana Government’s ‘Haryana Kaushal Rojgar Nigam’ (HKRN) put out an advertisement on 15th December, 2023 for recruiting 10,000 skilled workers for Israel, where there is a shortage of man power in the construction sector since the start of the genocidal war on Palestine launched by Israel.

It was earlier reported that Israeli authorities have ordered Palestinian workers working in different sectors in Israel with work permits to leave, as part of their attacks on Palestinians. While the Israeli Builders' Association has asked for 50,000 -100,000 Indian construction workers to replace Palestinian workers, it was reported that Israel and India are negotiating about sending 15,000 workers.

The Haryana Kaushal Rojgar Nigam (HKRN) has outlined specific criteria for individuals interested in the recruitment drive for young workers. This is a sinister ploy to exploit our country’s poor construction workers to send to Israel by offering lucrative salary at the expense of death, starvation and income losses of fellow Palestinian workers. In addition to that, HKRN also recruits a large number of bouncers to guard the night clubs of Israel; this is a serious concern, these Indian bouncers may be used in ongoing war.

News reports are also coming, the BJP-led Uttrakhand government is also mulling to send construction workers to Israel. The similar recruitment exercise may happen in Uttrakhand also.

BJP-led Uttrakhand government is also mulling to send construction workers to Israel. A recruitment exercise may happen there

The Construction Workers Federation of India strongly opposes the menacing move of Haryana Government to send the poor construction workers of our country to Israel to overcome its shortage of workers and in any way support its genocidal attacks on Palestine killing thousands of innocent people including children and women.

The Construction Workers Federation of India reiterates that Indian government support the UN resolution calling for immediate ceasefire, Palestinian state with 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital. CWFI demands the Government of India to use its diplomatic relations with Israel to abide by the UN resolution instead of negotiating for sending construction workers to that country.

CWFI calls upon all its members and all the construction workers of India to protest on 22nd and 23rd December against the moves to put the lives of construction workers of our country at risk by sending them to Israel and make them indirect partners in its genocidal attacks on Palestinians.

Construction workers of India stand in solidarity with the working class and the people of Palestine under genocidal attack by Israel with the full backing of the USA and other imperialist countries.

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog