Israel hires thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian workers in return for state pledges to oppose the recognition of a Palestinian state

The Israeli government has announced that it will hire foreign labour to work in the settlement construction industry and to cope with an expected increase in settlement expansion projects in the West Bank.
 
A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s office last night stated that during Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s most recent visit to Romania and Bulgaria, it was agreed that Israel would hire 2,000 workers from each in return for a pledge that the two countries would oppose the recognition of an independent Palestinian state at the UN in September.

---

Earlier this week, the Israeli government approved an increase in the number of foreign workers allowed into Israel by 6,800 in order to cope with the expected increase in construction projects and Israel’s need to widen the scope of residential construction in the coming years.
 
It also put a three-year freeze on a previous governmental decision to gradually reduce and deport foreign workers in Israel.