Iran is believed to have used the possibility of negotiating hostage releases to put intense pressure on Thailand to withdraw tens of thousands of farm workers from Israel in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
In exchange for labelling Israel an “unsafe country” and issuing the order to leave, Iran reportedly said it would help secure the release of Thai hostages held in Hamas captivity.
Between 30,000 and 40,000 Thai labourers worked on Israeli farms and in greenhouses at the time.
Agreeing to the alleged deal would have crippled food production and inflicted long-term economic damage. Thailand is not believed to have agreed to the proposal.
Shocked by the scale of the massacre in which 39 Thai citizens were murdered, the Thai government initiated urgent diplomatic efforts to secure the release of the 31 farm labourers abducted by Hamas and other terrorist groups.
In November 2023, as rescue efforts stalled Thailand dispatched a high-level delegation to Tehran, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.
They spoke to senior Iranian officials and, according to some reports, even met with Hamas representatives, including Mousa Abu Marzouk, a key figure in Hamas’s political bureau, the newspaper reported.
Hinting at progress, Arifin Utarasint, Thailand’s envoy to Iran at the time, stated that Hamas was “prepared to release the abducted workers at the right time.”
Within weeks, the first 23 Thai hostages were released during the initial truce. Another eight were freed in subsequent phases in the next year.
A few thousand Thai workers did flee in the aftermath of the attacks, but it was far short of the mass exodus Iran had hoped for.
In May 2024, Thailand’s minister of labour travelled to Israel for meetings with officials where both sides agreed to encourage Thai labourers to remain in the country.
But in June the Thai Ministry For Foreign Affairs expressed “grave concern” over the tensions between Israel and Iran and said it was closely monitoring developments.
The JC has approached the Thai and Israeli embassies for comment.
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