NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder issued the following statement in reaction to today’s appellate decision by Belgium's Constitutional Court allowing Belgium – and by extension other EU member states – to ban religious ritual slaughter without pre-stunning:
“Today’s ruling is a continued maneuver to discriminate against Belgium’s Jewish and Muslim citizens. By Prohibiting religious slaughter without stunning, Belgium's Constitutional Court has placed a potentially terminal obstacle to continued Jewish communal life in Europe. This is not a matter of animal welfare, but the suppression of religious freedom and liberty that is guaranteed in Article 10(1) of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“As antisemitism continues to surge in Europe and around the world, we cannot let instances of religious persecution like this go unchallenged. The European Union must reverse this ill-advised decision so that Jews, and other minority religions, can practice their beliefs without restrictions.”
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