Knesset Committee Urges Europeans to Drop Legislation Banning Kosher Slaughter

The Knesset Committee on Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs announced that it would appeal to European parliaments to drop efforts to outlaw kosher slaughter of animals, or "shechita".

In a statement released after the meeting, the Committee noted that "Italy's Chief Rabbi, Prof. Riccardo Di Segni stressed that the requirement [in the proposed legislation] is to stun the animals prior to slaughtering, and while most Muslims are actually prepared to do this, Jewish religious law forbids this, so that the new laws specifically target Jews." Committee Chair Danny Danon said that "an element of anti-Semitism" permeates such legislation.

The Committee statement added that Shechita has been banned in Switzerland since 1893 and that Norway passed a similar law 4 years ago.