National Union MK Yaakov Katz (Katzeleh), chairman of a Knesset subcommittee examining the issue of foreign workers in Israel, said Sunday that he fully supports the efforts of farmers to import more foreign workers to assist in the fall harvest. Calling them "pioneers," MK Katz has asked the Interior Ministry to increase the numbers of visas for foreign workers to the numbers needed by farmers to complete the harvest before the cold weather comes in.
In order to prevent the creation of foreign worker communities in Israel, Katz has advocated permitting workers to enter the country once, allowing them to remain for a period of only a few years, when they will be replaced with other workers. With that, he said, he favors building projects that will encourage more Israelis to enter the agricultural work force.