Proposed Belgian Law Would Prohibit Kosher Slaughtering

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported yesterday that in Belgium, proposed legislation would effectively prohibit kosher slaughtering of animals. The law would also affect dhabiha, the Muslim method of slaughtering. The law was introduced at the behest of an animal rights group, Global Action in the Interest of Animals. The Jewish community has no problem with one part of the proposed law-- limiting animal slaughtering to government-inspected abattoirs. This part is aimed at slaughtering of sheep by Muslims each year around the festival of Id al-Adha, which commemorates Abraham's being given an animal to sacrifice to God, instead of his son. But the Jewish community objects to two other parts of the proposed law. One is the mandatory stunning of animals before slaughtering, which is inconsistent with kosher slaughtering. The other is the required labeling of meat that as "ritually slaughtered". This is seen as a way of stigmatizing ritually slaughtered meat, particularly kosher-slaughtered meat that is sold in non-kosher outlets because it is from the hind quarter of animals or because it does not meet kosher standards for other reasons.