Police arrest HR co. head, three others for supplying businesses with illegal Palestinian workers

Police in the Tel Aviv District’s National Fraud Squad arrested the owner of a human resources company and three additional suspects on suspicion of referring illegal Palestinian workers to businesses in central Israel by forging ID cards and other documents, police said in a Tuesday statement. 

An undercover investigation, performed by the National Fraud Squad, the Tax Authority, and the National Insurance Institute, revealed that the owner of the human resources company from Holon operated a network to locate  Palestinian workers, bring them into Israel with forged identity cards, and supply them to businesses. 

The suspects would approach various Tel Aviv businesses, including well-known supermarket chains and restaurants, and provide them with Palestinian workers with forged ID cards while issuing fake invoices, according to the police. 

The network financed their transportation and put them up in apartments. 

The investigation was initiated based on increased activity from the Tel Aviv District Police against illegal workers and their employers. 

Many of the businesses were also investigated on the suspicion that the business owners were turning a blind eye to the forged documents. 

Additional arrested suspects

Among those arrested were several leaders of the network, including a senior employee of the company and two Palestinian residents of the West Bank.

One Palestinian suspect, from Hebron, was arrested for allegedly being in contact with another West Bank resident who had supplied the Palestinian workers with forged documents. This suspect held a legal Israeli work permit.

The other suspected West Bank resident located and supplied the Palestinian workers. He was arrested Tuesday morning at a checkpoint near Ramallah. 

During the investigation, police conducted searches at the company’s offices in Holon and at the homes of the suspects. Officers seized luxury vehicles, thousands of shekels in cash, computers, mobile phones, and various documents.

During the operation, officers found five illegal workers in an apartment in Ramat Gan, who were allegedly employed by the detained suspects. These workers were apprehended by police officers from the Ramat Gan-Bnei Brak precinct. 

All of the suspects have been transferred for questioning by the Tel Aviv District’s National Fraud Squad.

On Monday, the Bat Yam Magistrate Court extended the detention of the four suspects until Wednesday. The detention of the five illegal workers was extended until Tuesday. 

JPost