Left-wing activists slam Shaked for opposing foreign workers’ pensions

Ayelet Shaked’s suggestion about pensions touched a nerve among Israel’s Left. 

By World Israel News Staff

Knesset Member Ayelet Shaked of the Yemina faction received a harsh response from left-wing activists after she promised on Tuesday that her party would work to free Israeli farmers from their current obligations to pay into pension plans for foreign workers.

“Israel’s farmers are collapsing under the burden of illegal workers,” Shaked said. “We in Yemina promise to change the conditions. We’ll start by canceling the pensions.”

“Why should farmers have to pay pensions for workers, when in their home countries there is no pension? They earn five times more than they do in their home countries. There’s a lot more to fix. This is just an example. Vote Yemina, and we’ll work for you,” she said.

Her remarks, made while visiting a farming area in the Arava region, sparked a particularly intense reaction from those opposed to the idea.

Mickey Gitzin, director of the New Israel Fund in Israel, said “Why just pension? Let’s go straight to slavery. Who said you have to pay foreign workers? This woman is just pure evil. She doesn’t have a bit of Jewishness in her, much less humanity.”

“For the 18,734th time, she’s forgotten what it means to be a Jew. This is not my Judaism,” said Leftist activist Yair Glick, Arutz7 reports.

The news site also reports that strategic analyst and Globes columnist Shai Niv said: “She’s the most evil figure in Israeli politics, and she’s the most embraced by the media.”

Arutz7 reports that Israeli farmers take home between a few Israeli cents and a few shekels per kilogram of produce sold.