Israel in Talks With Morocco to Bring in Nursing Workers

Rabat – Israel’s Minister of Interior Ayelet Shaked said on December 28 that her country is in talks with Morocco to bring in nursing workers amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Speaking before the Israeli Special Committee on Foreign Workers, Shaked revealed that the country is discussing the employment of foreign workers in the nursing industry by making new bilateral agreements.

“We have started initial talks on bringing workers from Morocco, and there is responsiveness on the other side,” Shaked said.

Shaked aims to adopt a lenient approach in solving the foreign workers’ crisis in Israel.

Foreign workers are permitted to stay in Israel for 13 years; the minister said that there would not be any changes on this matter “to prevent illegal immigrants from taking up residence.”

In a discussion with the chairwoman of the committee Ibtisam Mara’ana about the working hours of nurses that often include the weekend, the minister said the existing model does not need to be changed.

“The workers know where they are coming to. You have to look at the families. Many workers prefer to earn more and to work on weekends too. I don’t think that this model needs to be changed, because it will impose a further burden on the families,” Shaked noted.

Mara’ana, however, expressed her intention to implement a bill to regulate working hours of foreign workers in the nursing industry. The bill also aims to regulate their rest hours.

Israel is also expecting to recruit 2,000 nursing care workers from Nepal who will be employed in retirement homes.

Morocco-Israel cooperation in the nursing industry is a sample of existing cooperation aiming to deepen the ties between the two countries.

Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Yair Lapid has expressed his willingness to boost Morocco-Israel bilateral relations in areas of common interest, such as tourism, culture, political dialogue, and research cooperation.

On December 9, Morocco and Israel celebrated the first anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic ties in a joint event held at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC.