It is possible that no country other than Israel itself has paid a greater tribute than Thailand at the hands of Hamas. The raid by the Palestinian Islamist militia killed thirty Thai day laborers on October 7, on farms in the vicinity of Gaza. Eighteen other workers of the same nationality were injured, while at least nineteen are hostages of the organization, considered terrorist by the European Union.
For all these reasons, the Thai government has called on its around thirty thousand compatriots to return without delay. Hence the annoyance of the Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, when confirming the pressure that his fellow citizens are receiving from their employers to continue working, with the promise of greater remuneration, which would be the equivalent of 1,290 euros (in reality, the salary Israeli minimum) to double this.
This Tuesday Srettha expressed his discontent to the Israeli ambassador in Bangkok. She has also informed her that several Israeli agricultural businessmen have announced that the October payment will be postponed until November 10, to try to retain them. "I have spoken seriously with the ambassador and I have told her that the issue of giving money is unacceptable," Srettha told the media, before entering the council of ministers. Ambassador Orna Sagiv has promised to find out about all this.
While Israeli agricultural businessmen desperately try to retain the workforce - which also includes Nepalis and Filipinos - the United States is reportedly making plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Americans from across the Middle East in the event of a regional war, according to The Washington Post.
In any case, the exodus of Asian workers will aggravate the situation in a part of the country where many Israelis would not live for all the gold in the world.
It must be said that the Thai sacrifice in a conflict foreign to their country does not seem to have moved the Israelis too much. The list of the dead published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz - subject to military censorship - with hundreds of names, does not mention any Thai victim nor any kidnapped person of this nationality.
The Hamas assault produced a flood of requests from Thais to their government to help them return to their country. According to official figures, some 3,000 have already returned, while more than 8,000 are awaiting their turn.
Thailand accelerated the sending of seasonal workers to Israel in 2012, after signing an agreement. But the replacement of Gazan day laborers with foreigners of this and other nationalities had begun several years earlier, following the blockade of the Palestinian strip by the occupying power.
The situation of these workers has been denounced for alleged labor abuses and precarious housing and health conditions, as denounced by the NGO Human Rights Watch in a report in 2015. In many cases they work in greenhouses, under suffocating temperatures, in farms that sometimes They border the Gaza fence. Earning, yes, several times what they would get in Thailand for the same work.
The Israeli authorities, for their part, assure that hundreds of inspections are carried out a year to guarantee the well-being of foreign workers.
Prime Minister Srettha condemned the bloody Hamas raid on the same day it occurred, calling it "inhumane" and extending his condolences to Israel. His Foreign Minister, Panpri Phahitthanukon, however, qualified his words the next day: "Thailand does not condemn any of the parties, because we are unaware of the reality of the political climate between both nations, but we firmly condemn the resort to violence. what has happened to Thai citizens, who are innocent, is unacceptable.
Thailand, like almost all of its Southeast Asian neighbors - except Burma and Singapore - recognizes Palestine. Also to Israel, something that Indonesia or Malaysia do not do.
So, despite the price paid, the Buddhist-majority nation maintains a discreet stance in the current eruption of conflict. Partly in the interest of the kidnapped. And partly because of its vulnerability, as a tourist country that welcomes many visitors from Israel and even more from Muslim countries. In neighboring Malaysia, without going any further, the Malaysian population is inflamed by the thousands of victims caused by Israeli aerial bombardments on residential areas.
