‘Youth should be sent here to absorb zionism’: Jewish farmers and thai migrant workers in southern israel

The present chapter examines the discursive interrelations between farmers, migrant workers, citizens and the state, by looking into a specific geopolitical and social context of agricultural migrant workers employed in a southern region of Israel. As a result of state policy and bilateral agreements with the government of Thailand, the majority of agricultural workers in the region (and elsewhere in Israel) are young Thai men who come to Israel without their families and are required to leave after a predetermined period. They have no viable way of becoming permanent residents, let alone citizens, and their overall quality of life often depends on the means and dispositions of their employers.