Israel is seeking to expand job opportunities for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) beyond caregiving and hospitality, but ongoing travel restrictions are preventing new deployments from the Philippines, according to its top diplomat in Manila.
Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss said the Israeli government is eager to meet with the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to explore ways to bring in more Filipino workers.
“We have a need. We would like to employ more. For this we need to have arrangements, and we need to have a meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW),” Fluss said in a BusinessWorld report.
Currently, around 30,000 Filipinos are working in Israel, primarily in hotels and as caregivers. But Fluss said they are looking into expanding employment into other sectors.
“We want to open new sectors for (Filipinos) in Israel…Currently it’s only caregivers and hotel workers,” he said.
However, new deployments are blocked due to Alert Level 2 imposed by the Philippine government in October 2023, citing security concerns amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas. This alert level prohibits the deployment of new OFWs and discourages non-essential travel.
“The Philippine government is not allowing new OFWs to go to Israel, which is a pity because we need a lot of foreign labor,” Fluss said. “We are interested to bring labor from the Philippines however as long as this Alert level 2 (is in effect)… new workers are not coming to Israel from the Philippines.”
Despite the restrictions, Fluss highlighted that other nations like Japan, Thailand, and Korea have adjusted their travel advisories, allowing their citizens to return to work in designated safe zones in Israel.
“We’re waiting for the Philippine government to make their decisions. It’s up to (them),” he added.
On tourism, Fluss also pointed out that Israel remains open to visitors, noting: “It’s important to mention on the tourism side. So of course, there is the travel advisory, but Israel is open for tourism.”
