Law, Power, and Justice

Israeli farms, core to the country’s national identity, for years employed Palestinian and Thai workers. But since the Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza, most Palestinians have been banned from Israel and many fearful Thais have returned home, leaving growers to scramble for labor.

“My workers are gone because of the war; I’m panicking,“ said Gabi Swissa, 61, from his farm outside Kadima in central Israel. For decades, he has counted on Palestinians and Thais to plant, harvest and pack strawberries.

Mr. Swissa, a former soldier from an elite combat unit who suffers from PTSD, was in tears. Volunteers he had expected to help on his farm one day last week had not shown up.

Israeli agriculture is in the biggest crisis since the establishment of the state in 1948,” said Yuval Lipkin, deputy executive director of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Since the outset of the war, he said, farms are lacking at least 15,000 workers.