Total population
23,000
Regions with significant populations
Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and other cities
Language(s)
Chinese, Hebrew
Religion(s)
Judaism, others
Related ethnic groups
Han Chinese
The Chinese in Israel are comprised of a few separate groups. The guest workers in the construction section dominate numerically, while there are also small groups of Jews from China who have made aliyah, as well as foreign students studying in Israeli universities.
Chinese who have made aliyahThe first Jewish immigrant from China to Israel was Sara Imas, a former Chinese citizen with a German Jewish father and Jiangsu mother, who was born and raised in China and lived through the Cultural Revolution. She came to Israel in 1991, but later returned to Shanghai as the representative of a diamond company after gaining Israeli citizenship and living in Israel for 12 years.[1] Of the roughly 600 Chinese families from the city of Kaifeng who claim to have been Jews for many generations — only one has been able to make aliyah. As most are unable to prove their matrilineal Jewish descent, Israeli religious courts have required them to undergo Orthodox conversions in order to be recognised as Jews.
The number of Chinese workers in Israel has been estimated to be 23,000, of whom less than half are employed. Many are remaining in the country and working in violation of the terms of their visas
There is evidence of Chinese workers paying as much as US$19,000 just for the opportunity to get a visa to Israel and work there. This is usually paid by illegal loans to which family members are guarantors. It has been estimated that about 70 percent of those payments go to Israeli manpower companies. Workers are promised wages as high as US$1500, but sometimes find their actual wages are as low as only US$200. The manpower companies also often retain the passports of workers, allegedly for safekeeping purposes, and force the workers to pay a fine to get their passports back
Chinese workers are in the worst situation of all the nationalities working in Israel since most of them are unable to speak Hebrew or English, have no community in the country to help them - as most of the other nationalities have - and are totally at the mercy of their employers. If something is wrong with their visa, if they have been brought to do a job that they are untrained for, or if they try to leave an employer who ignores their rights, they are immediately liable to be deported.
In many cases, Chinese workers are deported because of the misdeeds of their employer. An Israeli State Comptroller’s report from 1998 highlighted the situation whereby if an employer did not pay the requisite fees, his workers would be arrested as a sanction. If the employer was caught moving the workers to a different place than specified by their visas, the workers would be arrested and deported
The Chinese government, which has recently begun taking a closer interest in the welfare of its citizens working in Israel, blames the local authorities in Israel for being uncooperative and for placing the workers’ welfare at a low priority
In 2001, then-labor and social affairs minister Shlomo Benizri said: “I just don’t understand why a restaurant needs a slant-eye to serve me my meal.”[6] Even Jews of Chinese descent suffer harassment and poor treatment by immigration police.[2]
Employers have also been known to impose humiliating restrictions on Chinese workers in their employment contracts. In 2003, a report by The Guardian stated that Chinese workers at an unspecified company had been required to agree not to have sex with or marry Israeli women, including prostitutes, as a condition of getting a job. An anonymous Israeli lawyer, however, claims that these contracts only appear legal but could be proven illegal if challenged in court