According to the Israeli central bureau of statistics there are about 100 thousand illegal foreign workers in Israel. Most of them are from Romania, Thailand, China and the Philippines.

There is only one formal clinic for illegal workers in Israel and it is located in Tel Aviv. Physicians For Human Rights (PHR) used to run it and three months ago they announced that the clinic will be closed. The reason was to put pressure on the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) in order for them to open another clinic of their own.

This week, PHR-Israel declared that their clinic will be reopened next week after the IMA agreed to open another clinic.

It’s a story that not many people in Israel are aware about but in my view it’s one of the most important stories of the week (considering there was a suicide act yesterday).

People are entitled to receive medical treatment regardless of their legal status and I believe that the government should assist. Even though these people are illegal inhabitants, they are in need. They left their country to earn a living and support their families (whom they haven’t seen for quite some time in most of the cases).

The people working in the PHR are these days Righteous among the Nations. The Israeli government should do as much as it can to help in this situation. About 60 years ago most of the Israeli’s parents and grandparents were refugees as well. We shouldn’t forget it.

Image Credit: Allthingsbeautiful