Anti-Israel campaign calls on Jordanians to refuse working in Israeli hotels

The head of the committee against normalization with Israel, Manaf Majali, said that the committee will start a broad campaign to convince Jordanians not to "work in the occupying entity."

By MAAYAN GROISMAN
General view of Eilat resorts (photo credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/HENRIK SENDELBACH)
General view of Eilat resorts
(photo credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/HENRIK SENDELBACH)
Anti-Israel activists in Jordan have launched a campaign against Jordanians' employment in Israeli hotels, amid the clamor of senior Israeli officials for recruiting additional Jordanian employees to work in hotels in the southern city of Eilat.
In an interview with the London-based Arab-daily al-Arabi al-Jadeed Saturday, the head of the committee against normalization with Israel, Manaf Majali, said that the committee will start a broad campaign to convince Jordanians not to "work in the occupying entity."
According to Majali, the number of foreign workers has considerably decreased, which has forced Israel to search for a cheap alternative in Jordan.
Majali said that the committee will identify the Jordanian companies that assign Jordanians to work in Israel, in order to organize demonstrations against them, expose them to the public and urge people to boycott them.
He also demanded the government provide work opportunities, to reduce to the 14% unemployment rate and prevent Jordanians from crossing the border to Israel to gain decent earnings.
Mohammad al-Khatib, a spokesman for Jordan’s Ministry of Labor, denied the existence of any formal agreements between the Ministry and its Israeli counterpart regarding the employment of Jordanians in Israel.
On Thursday, Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin stated that the hotels in Eilat face a labor shortage, adding that Israel plans to hire 1500 Jordanian workers to solve that shortage, in both Eilat and Tel Aviv.