Asians the new target of Israeli discrimination

Associated Press - Israel’s nationwide sushi craze is being endangered by a wasabi-strength threat: The government, seeking to protect local jobs, wants to send all foreign-born Asian chefs packing by January 2009.

Asian food has become increasingly popular in Israel, fueled by the large number of young Israelis who travel to the region in an unofficial rite of passage after compulsory army service.

Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Indian restaurants have grown into a $280 million (€192 million) industry, accounting for 10 percent of the local dining landscape, according to the Israeli Ethnic Restaurant Association.

For the moment, Asian restaurants employ 900 foreign chefs and kitchen workers. But if the government has its way, that number could soon drop.

“We feel an Israeli can hold a wok as well as a Thai or a Chinese person,” Shoshana Strauss, a lawyer at the Israeli Trade Ministry, which regulates work permits for foreign workers.

Restaurant operators said the Israeli plan poses an existential threat to their thriving businesses, saying the foreigners have expertise that cannot easily be replaced.

“If we don’t have cooks, we don’t have food. If we don’t have food, we don’t have customers,” said Steven Lobel, a sushi operator who owns two Asian restaurants that employ 14 Asian kitchen workers in the Tel Aviv area. “It’s pretty much one of the biggest threats we have as restaurant operators.”

This year, the government has limited the number of visas for foreign restaurant workers to 500. The restaurant association has appealed to the Supreme Court.

But if the order is upheld, restaurants would have to lay off nearly half their foreign workers. In 2009, there will be no work visas for foreign chefs, only tourist visas permitting brief consulting opportunities for experts in Asian cuisine, according to the Trade Ministry.

Earlier this week, Israel’s Asian restaurants went on a one-day strike in protest of the government’s threat, giving the nation a taste of life without spicy tuna, California rolls and chopsticks.

Strauss said the government was not trying to eradicate foreign restaurant workers altogether. Instead, she said the Trade Ministry is trying to eliminate unskilled kitchen workers, who she said are often exploited by restaurateurs who pay them less than minimum wage.

“They are well-behaved, they work very hard (and) they don’t demand their rights,” she said, saying the situation creates some “humanitarian issues.”

The ministry has begun to offer Asian cooking classes to Israelis, but few have shown interest, generating skepticism that there will be Israelis to fill the soon-to-be vacated positions.

“I doubt this will succeed,” said Arnon Volosky, chief executive of the Ethnic Restaurant Association. He cited examples in London, New York and Paris, where ethnic restaurants often employ foreign chefs who specialize in their home cuisine.

“I don’t think you go into an ethnic restaurant anywhere in the world and see only locals working there,” said Lobel, the restaurant owner. He claimed that for each foreign worker, seven Israelis are employed rolling sushi, waiting tables or working the wok.

“What we do is help people have fun in this hectic country we live in. Everyone’s enjoying it, we’re creating job opportunities for locals,” said Lobel.

one blogger Korea Files  writes:

Here’s a puzzling prospect: Asian food sells, let’s throw out the Asian chefs! That is, more or less, what the Israeli government has decided as its plan of action (here). Starting in January 2009, there will be no work visas for foreigners in the restaurant business. The government believes this will help the situation where hard-working, unskilled, Asians are exploited (here). Most others see it as a way of targeting profitable businesses employing Asians thus blocking the opportunity for other Israelis.

Training in Asian cuisine is therefore on offer to Israelis. “We feel an Israeli can hold a wok as well as a Thai or a Chinese person,” Shoshana Strauss, a lawyer at the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour, is quoted as saying (here). Tell that to the Sushi chef who makes a living in the world’s third largest sushi market in per capita terms (here). The initiative should be applauded - after all Israelis could be very good at cooking Asian food that suites the Israeli palate (although the growth of Asian cusines indicates that Asian food by Asian chefs also suits the Israeli palate, and it is often also Kosher).

A more comprehensive plan (no similarity intended except for whom the plan is directed at) was initiated on August 1972 when infamous son of Uganda, Idi Amin, expelled all Asians. Nevertheless, remember the argument of “infant industry” protection, saying that a nation should develop its own capabilities before allowing foreign competitors to enter the market. Good luck applying that to national culture and cuisine though.

Now maybe its me but Israeli’s aren’t really known for having edible food. Two staples of diet commonly associated with Israel are falafels and shwarma, both are Arab cuisines. One could say that the British have better cuisine than Israel does. More to the point, why expel people who work in the food service industry but not expel non-Israeli asians from other markets?

Asians in Israel are often doing the work that Israeli’s refuse to do. This spot was once occupied by Arab labor but due to “security” concerns it no longer functions that way. This post has an anecdotal story about an Asian professor in Israel being approached about cleaning a persons house. In Israel Asians are imported to work in construction, cleaning, food service and the ever so popular illegal sex trade. In another instance of racial and religious discrimination one Israeli company forbidded its illegal chinese workers from having sex or getting married.

Of course there is no path for assimilation for these workers. They can never become citizens of Israel and therefor will always be illegal workers. Why you may ask? Becoming a naturalized citizen is completely up to the Minister of the Interior. There are certain things you must do, but the decision is made by one person. If you happen to be Arab, you can kiss this opportunity goodbye. According the the ministries website only 300 Arabs are made citizens a year. Compare this with 30,000 Jewish citizens a year who need not be naturalized.