PRESS RELEASE - World Jewish Congress president welcomes Dutch Senate's rejection of ban on ritual slaughter

14 December 2011

  Ronald S. Lauder: “Victory of reason and religious freedom over political zeal” 

 World Jewish Congress president welcomes Dutch Senate’s rejection of ban on ritual slaughter

NEW YORK / BRUSSELS – World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder today welcomed a proposal put forward by the Dutch government which aims to find a solution to the question of ritual slaughter acceptable to the local Jewish and Muslim communities instead of banning it outright. "This is good news, and we hope that an acceptable arrangement can be found that safeguards the right of the Jewish community to practice kosher slaughter," Lauder declared after a proposed bill for a complete ban of slaughter without prior stunning failed to win the backing of a majority in the Senate, the upper house of the Dutch Parliament.

 Lauder added: “We are grateful that kosher slaughter of animals, which has been continuously practiced by Jews for thousands of years and which is – contrary to the views of some activists – not a cruel practice, is now unlikely to be prohibited in the Netherlands. This is a victory of reason and religious freedom over political zeal.” 

On Tuesday, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and the Environment Henk Bleker presented a compromise proposal which calls for agreements with slaughterhouses and the Islamic and Jewish communities over permissible slaughter practices. The bill presented by the small Animal Rights Party earlier this year calls for the prohibition of slaughter without prior stunning of the animal in the Netherlands. The lower house of the Dutch parliament in June voted in favor of it, but several political parties have since changed their stance on the matter. 

The World Jewish Congress as well as many other local and international Jewish and Muslim groups had urged the Dutch not to ban ritual slaughter.