OY VEY!
ALLAH ACKBAR!
A ban on the Muslim and Jewish ways of ritually slaughtering animals went into effect in Belgium on New Year’s Day
While supporters of the move praised the ban as a humane development, religious minorities believe they are the targets of bigotry under the guise of animal protection.
European Jewish Congress (EJC) president Moshe Kantor described the ban as the “the greatest assault on Jewish religious rights in Belgium since the Nazi occupation of the country in World War II”.
RT reports: archive.fo
The ban brings Belgium in line with European Union regulations that require animals to be stunned, so they can’t feel pain, before slaughter. However, Jewish and Muslim religious laws require that animals are conscious when they are killed.
Kosher and Halal methods of slaughter involve the animal being killed with a single cut to the neck which severs critical blood vessels. Advocates claim the animal loses consciousness in seconds and it doesn’t suffer during the process.
Approximately 500,000 Muslims and over 30,000 Jews live in the small European country, which has a population of 11.3 million. Leaders of both communities have railed against the new law and are challenging it in Belgium’s Constitutional Court.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said the ban is proof that “radical Islam has won.”
“We are in the midst of an attack on the freedom of religion. The European capital has, with its laws and lack of tolerance for minorities, proven that radical Islam has won,” he said, as cited by Israel National News.
archive.fo
newspunch.com