On Monday, the Knesset approved the nomination of Ayoub Kara (Likud), an Israeli Druze, as minister-without-portfolio by a vote of 45 to 33. On Friday, Yediot Aharonot columnist Nechama Duek reported that the new minister was conflicted over the proper number of sheep he should slaughter for his guests at his upcoming celebration next Monday.
According to Duek, Kara, who was born in 1955, originally planned to slaughter 61 sheep, to mark his 61 years on God’s green earth. But then, on second thought, he decided to show his love for the Israel by adding seven sheep and slaughter 68 of them, one for every year Israel has been a sovereign state.
Kara is expecting around 700 guests at his home in Daliyat al-Karmel, a Druze town near Haifa, where he lives with his wife and their five children. Quick math: 700 guests, 68 sheep, that’s about a tenth of a sheep per guests, assuming none of them are vegetarian.
That’s quite a barbecue.
Minister Kara is a dyed in the wool, pro-Zionist conservative. He opposed the uprooting of Jews from Gaza and the Netanyahu settlement freeze. He was one of the few supporters of former MK Moshe Feiglin’s pro-settlement faction in the Likud. And he supports the death penalty for terrorists.
And for lambs, it turns out.