Last update - 00:00 05/10/2006
Kadima MK: Replace foreign agricultural workers with Ethiopian immigrants
By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent
MK Marina Solodkin (Kadima) said Wednesday that the number of foreign workers in the agriculture sector could be reduced and replaced with Ethiopian immigrants.
The former deputy minister of immigrant absorption made the comments during a meeting with Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson, Finance Ministry officials and Kadima MKs in preparation for the Knesset hearings on the 2007 budget.
There was no reaction to Solodkin's comments during the meeting, but afterwards MKs called them embarrassing.
Solodkin rejected the criticism, saying that Ethiopian immigrants that had recently been released from the army approached her during her term as deputy minister of immigrant absorption and "asked for land, water, and to work in agriculture."
"Whoever accuses me of racism doesn't know what he is talking about," she said. "I wanted to help them realize their dream to become proud farmers."