Indian workers in Israel demand accountability after murder of Indian caregiver
Indian workers in Israel have filed an appeal demanding justice and accountability following the murder of Indian caregiver Rajeev Acharya, who was stabbed to death by an Israeli national, India's NDTV news channel reports.
Israeli authorities have since indicted Avior Zaken, the grandson of the elderly couple who employed Acharya, for attacking him repeatedly with a sharp object on 23 July.
Workers have called for the Israeli government to prosecute the case fully, provide compensation to Acharya's family, and protect Indian foreign workers from violence and abuse, according to NDTV.
Indian media reported that Zaken faces a charge of premeditated murder under the Israeli penal code.
On Wednesday, nearly a month after Acharya's killing, India's embassy in Tel Aviv stated on X that it was "in close contact with the Israeli authorities, who have informed that a suspect has been arrested and that the investigation is ongoing to establish the full facts and circumstances of the incident".
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According to the NDTV report, the community's appeal called particular attention to the vulnerabilities of Indian domestic workers in Israel, who both live and work within the homes in which they are employed.
In May 2023, the government of India signed an agreement to send more than 42,000 Indian workers to Israel, with 34,000 set to work in construction and 8,000 in care of the elderly.
Since the start of Israel's genocide on Gaza, this number has increased.
The Israeli government issued a mass revocation of work permits for Palestinians in November 2023, causing a drastic shortage in labour. In response, the Israeli Builders Association called on the Israeli government to request between 50,000 and 90,000 labourers from India.
With high unemployment rates and poor wages in India, thousands of workers have sought opportunities in Israel, seeking to send remittances to their families back home.
However, in 2024, several major Indian trade unions, representing tens of millions of Indian workers, called on the government to halt the flow of Indian workers to Israel, to avoid complicity in Israel's genocide of Palestinians.
As of August 2025, more than 20,000 Indian workers had arrived in Israel since the start of the genocide, and NDTV reported that new agreements - signed in February 2026 - projected up to 100,000 Indian labourers arriving in Israel by 2028.
The Indian government has also faced repeated pressure from activists after continuing to provide military supplies to Israel throughout the genocide in Gaza.
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