Israel: Migrant farmworkers on the border with Lebanon labour without choice in areas restricted for civilians in "no safe zone"
"In northern Israel, migrant workers are farming while under fire from Hezbollah,"
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[Thai migrants] Namsan and the others work in an area that Israel has declared off-limits to its own civilians, ordering them to evacuate last month amid ongoing military operations against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group in Lebanon. Even so, with permission from Israel's military, farm owners and the foreign laborers they employ continue to work in that area, tending fields and livestock...
For Namsan, 28, the work means wages that are easily three times what he could make back home...
"I know it's dangerous because it's close to the border," he says, speaking to NPR through an interpreter via a social-media app. "But I'm not scared anymore."
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At one point as he's speaking, Namsan suddenly breaks off the conversation to run for a nearby shelter as a salvo of rockets streaks overhead. He counts about 10 and says Israeli missiles intercepted all of them. He and his coworkers are safe...
Namsan says the farm owner he now works for has always clearly explained the dangers and given him and his coworkers the option not to work in risky areas. But he's heard that other Thai laborers don't get a choice.
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[Aelad Cahana, a lawyer with Kav LaOved] says foreign workers on farms are especially vulnerable because they work in the open. "There is no safe zone that you can get to, even if you have two seconds, you cannot get anywhere. You're just in the middle of the field."
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