A ban on kosher slaughter has taken effect in the Flemish region of Belgium after a prohibition for salughtering animals that have not been pre-stunned entered into force.
Shechita is banned in Flanders as of January 1, while similar restrictions will be in place in the French-speaking Walloon region from September 2019.
Local rabbis said it was in direct contradiction to Jewish law, which requires that an animal be uninjured and in optimal health before slaughter.
Slaughter of animals without prior stunning is outlawed in several European countries, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden and partially in Switzerland.
“That provinces within Belgium, the law-making capital of Europe, have passed this type of anti-religious measure is an affront to the European values we all hold so dear,” said Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis.
“Time and again, the Jewish community is told by senior EU officials that there is no Europe without the Jews. These bans undermine those statements and put Jewish life at risk.”
