Despite unrest, life goes on for Pinoys in Israel

JERUSALEM - Like many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), 37-year-old Marilou Cabaluna decided to look for a job abroad for the future of her children.

- By JANVIC MATEO

Cabaluna, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, arrived here in Israel in July 2022, two years after her originally scheduled deployment was postponed because of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like many OFWs in Israel, she works in the hotel industry. It was an opportunity that she had prayed for, she told The STAR in an interview.

Back then, her only idea of this country was that it was the site of the Holy Land. Two years later, she became more familiar with the intricacies of the geopolitical tension in the region.

"We were educated on why there are a lot of borders, why there are a lot of security personnel," she said in Filipino, referring to the situation in Jerusalem, considered a holy site for some of the world's major religions, namely Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

A year and three months into Cabaluna's arrival in Israel, the country suffered one of the worst attacks in its history.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants launched a coordinated attack from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, killing over a thousand and abducting hundreds of others, including some Filipinos and other foreign workers.

In the north, where Israel shares a border with Lebanon, militant group Hezbollah also intensified its rocket attacks, mostly toward the city of Haifa, escalating a conflict in existence for decades.

The attacks prompted Israel to launch a military offensive in Gaza and in southern Lebanon, a response that is drawing widespread criticism around the world as the number of civilians who had died or have been displaced continues to rise.

Jerusalem, where Cabaluna works, is located far from the areas directly affected by the attacks, but it was not spared.

On that very day of the initial attack, sirens blared in the hotel where she works.

"I feel like crying every time I remember what happened," she said in Filipino.