Unwelcome

Tablet, June 3, 2011 It was one of the wordiest, most sophisticated protest placards I’ve ever seen a child hold. The pink sign, gripped by two Filipino-Israeli boys, read in Hebrew: “Prime minister, how long will children, innocent of crime, pay the price for the situation you created with your own hands?” There were the …

Nepali community finds comfort in performance arts

The Jerusalem Post, August 27, 2010 In the past several weeks, Israel’s Nepali community has hosted a flurry of events to entertain and support its workers. Nepali artists performed at two of the events put on by Namaste Entertainment, a Kathmandu-based organization that aims to give migrant workers temporary relief from difficult circumstances while promoting …

Exploited Thais in no man’s land

The National, December 19, 2009 Over two dozen Thai laborers have spent the last three weeks in the custody of Israeli authorities. But they are not under arrest. Following a complaint on their behalf from Kav LaOved, an Israeli NGO that advocates for foreign workers, immigration police freed the laborers from conditions that some critics …

Big trouble in little China

 Big trouble in little China The Jerusalem Post, July 31, 2009 As the sky darkens over the sagging cement buildings of South Tel Aviv, Chinese workers gather on the sidewalk outside of Kav LaOved. Inside, the translators that volunteer their time to Kav LaOved every Monday night prepare. “It’s like a party out there,” one …

Fokara’s law

 Fokara’s law The Jerusalem Post, March 27, 2009 Pinto Baptist, an Indian worker currently living in Tel Aviv, was desperate for help in December of 2008. In India, he’d borrowed $9,000 from friends and family to pay the agency fees it cost to come to Israel to work. But when he arrived here, in July …

Stranded Mid-Aviv

Stranded Mid-Aviv Outlook India, March 16-23, 2009 print edition Lily Devi paid 8000 dollars to make the journey from India to Egypt so that she could pass into Israel illegally via the southern border. The Indian man she paid had promised that work would await her on the other side. Instead, he abandoned her in …