"There were days that I worked 22 or 23 hours without a break... I had to force-feed the geese every four hours and then watch them, so if they died, we'd immediately pluck their feathers and clean them so we could sell the liver." The above is part of a deposition sworn by one of nine Thai workers who were rescued two weeks ago from two geese farms in Moshav Ben Zakai.
The rescue was carried out by the Immigration Police and Trade and Industry Ministry inspectors. The farms are owned by two brothers. One is suspected of continuing to force-feed geese despite a High Court injunction against the practice. Both are suspected of mistreating the employees, who slept among the geese pens.
The police are examining whether the conditions of the workers meets the definition of a law passed a few months ago prohibiting commerce in human beings for the purposes of slavery and forced labor. These Thai workers will probably be the first test case of the law, which mandates sentences of up to 20 years.
The workers say that since arriving in Israel, in September and October, they were forced to work feeding geese from 18 to 23 hours a day, seven days a week. They spoke about overwhelming fatigue and living next to dying geese in filthy pens.
When the workers complained to the company that brought them to Israel, Ozer Lehaklai, they said they were threatened with deportation to Thailand. The workers told police they would be sent home with no way to repay the $9,000 each paid to a middleman in order to come to Israel.
Chief Superintendent David Mondani, the head of the Immigration Police's central division, says the team was tipped off by Kav La'oved (Worker's Hotline for the Protection of Workers' Rights) after the Thais turned to the organization for help. At one of the farms, the officers and inspectors found no geese but harsh living conditions: "One mildewy room where four Thai workers lived in crowded conditions, a dripping shower, everything moldy, a stench from the nearby geese pens," Mondani related. On the second farm they also found five Palestinians without work permits.
Illegal force-feeding of geese
The brothers' permits for employing foreign workers were canceled immediately. They are being investigated on suspicion of fraud because the workers were supposed to be hired to feed the geese in a legal manner and not to force-feed them.
"I worked force-feeding geese in the farm of Z.L. [the employer - Ruth Sinai] ... I ground the feed mix until it was like cement and then put it in the feeding machine," one of the Thai workers said in a deposition to the Anonymous for Animal Rights organization. "I stuck the hose into the geese and then the machine forced the food in, using pressurized air," he added.
Avishai Amosi, a Trade and Industry Ministry official who is responsible for enforcing laws on foreign workers in the central region, confirms the worker's statement. "I saw the wet feeding devices, with the mixture and a low stool that the Thais sat on. There is not a shadow of a doubt that force-feeding was occurring."
Despite the evidence and the claims of Anonymous, the Agriculture Ministry denies vehemently that geese were being force-fed on Moshav Ben Zakai. Ministry officials said their inspectors found no evidence of such activity on their frequent visits.
However, it is now known that the two brothers received advance notice of the inspectors' visits. According to Mondani and Amosi, an Agriculture Ministry visit was scheduled on the day the Thai workers were rescued, and the farmers were warned one hour ahead of time. The Thai worker also stated in his deposition that "when the people came to check, Z.L. told me to hide the machines in the storeroom and then told me to hide, too."
The Agriculture Ministry said in response that its inspectors inform farmers before inspections.
The Interior and of Trade and Industry ministries found other work for three of the Thai workers, but the remainder were were taken to the detention center at Ben-Gurion International Airport for people who entered the country illegally. Mondani explained there was no other place to put them.
