In the wake of the October 7th massacre, all employment of Arab workers came to a grinding halt, including Arab-Israelis.

This caused many problems for various industries, especially supermarkets and construction companies, which rely on Arab workers. Supermarkets were eventually able to fill the gap with other workers, including Jewish ones, but construction companies could not find adequate replacements for Arab workers. Contractors found themselves stuck in the middle of building projects and slowly, Arab workers, mainly Israeli-Arabs, began returning to construction sites.

However, quite understandably, the horrifying carnage that took place on October 7th struck fear in the hearts of Israelis, especially after the news spread that Gazan Arabs who worked in the Gaza border kibbutzim gathered detailed information about the Jewish communities for Hamas to aid in their diabolical plans. Some of the Gazan workers even participated in the assault against their own former employers.

The shaila of using Arab workers despite the fears of Jewish neighbors, which was a concern well before October 7th, was posed to HaRav Zilberstein in the past and the Rav’s answer then was that the Gemara (Yevamos) says that if a behavior is a commonly accepted practice, Hashem protects us despite the risk. [‘שאם דשו בה רבים, אומרים ‘שומר פתאים השם]. So since Israeli security authorities screen Arab workers before granting them work permits, we can be meikel and allow contractors to use Arab workers who obtained work permits despite the risk as that is the commonly accepted practice.

However, the shaila was posed again to HaRav Zilberstein after October 7th. This is what the Rav responded: “Today the situation is completely different because they [the Arabs] showed their cruelty and their lack of humanity and they justify their description of being savages [פרא אדם] and even those who entered Israel and were employed by Jews were the very ones who guided the terrorists how to harm their employers, the neighbors who are scared [of Arab workers] are correct and there’s what to fear.”

“And therefore it’s a great mitzvah that from now on, anyone who can employ Jews should employ Jews and residents of the city should only buy at stores that employ Jews, even if it costs a bit more, and not only because of the mitzvah of ‘וחי אחיך עמך’ or ‘וכי תקנה מאת עמיתך’ but also because by doing so, they’ll prevent Arabs from entering the city and who knows how many Jews will be saved by this in the future.”

“Regarding construction sites, where there’s no possibility of employing Jews because they don’t want to work there, the contractor must hire an armed guard who will guard them [the Arab workers] the whole time they’re there, and afterward, the guard will escort them out of the city. This will calm the neighbors and they will most probably agree to the resumption of the construction work.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)