AMSTERDAM – The Dutch parliament voted Tuesday, June 28, in favor of a proposed ban on the ritual slaughter of animals, to the anger of Muslim and Jewish minorities in the European country.
"We are absolutely disappointed," Rabbi Moshe Stiefel in the central Dutch province of Flevoland said after the vote, Reuters reported.
"It’s very unfortunate that the Dutch Government doesn’t respect freedom of religion."
By a 116-30 vote, the lower house of parliament backed a bill for banning the ritual slaughter of animals in the Netherlands.
The bill stipulates that livestock must be stunned before being slaughtered, contrary to the Muslim halal and Jewish Kosher slaughters which require animals to be fully conscious.
"This way of killing causes unnecessary pain to animals," said Marianne Thieme, head of the Animal Rights Party, which is the champion of the bill.
"Religious freedom cannot be unlimited,� she said. "For us religious freedom stops where human or animal suffering begins."
The bill, however, said religious groups could continue ritual slaughter if they proved it was no more painful than stunning, but it was not clear how to do this.
The bill must be approved by the upper house of parliament before becoming law.
Jewish and Muslim leaders have been angry with the proposed ban.
"The very fact that there is a discussion about this is very painful for the Jewish community,� Netherlands Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs told Reuters.
"Those who survived the (second world) war remember the very first law made by the Germans in Holland was the banning of schechita or the Jewish way of slaughtering animals."
Impossible
Jewish leaders ridiculed the exemption that Jews and Muslims can continue their ritual slaughter if they prove that it causes less pain to the animal.
"…this absolutely impossible to prove," Chief Rabbi Jacobs said.
"You can’t ask the animal how it feels afterwards. Nobody can prove this."
He said that the ban has scared many Jews in the Netherlands.
"Old people are scared and young people who are just married are calling me to ask if they should stay here, today it is the schechita and tomorrow what, circumcision?
"People are afraid."
He was worried that the Dutch ban could prompt other countries to follow suit.
"Holland is a sophisticated country and other countries look to Holland as an example," he said.
"And we are afraid of the domino affect, that other countries will follow. This is the reason so many countries are watching the Netherlands today."
Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland ban ritual slaughter.
Swiss animal rights groups and far-right politicians have called for a ban on imported halal and kosher meat.
Of the 500 million animals slaughtered annually for food in the Netherlands, only 1.2 million animals are slaughtered according to Muslim or Jewish traditions, Dutch statistics show.
Politicized
Muslim leaders said that the proposed ban was meant to make political gains.
“There was no reason for passing this law,� said Imam Mahmut of the El Tawheed mosque in Amsterdam.
"This is a political decision."
Mahmut wondered who has the authority to determine whether the way of killing animals is good or not.
"Their way of killing the animal is not good either. The killing takes longer and the animal suffers more," he said.
Muslim scholars agree that Shari`ah provides a divine law of mercy that should be applied on all Allah’s creations, including animals.
Islam also provides details about avoiding any unnecessary pain.
Mahmut said Dutch Muslims, who make up one million of the country's 16 million population, will turn to imported meat now.
"It shouldn’t be the problem. The meat can be imported to the Netherlands from neighboring countries,� he said.
Uca Octay of Rotterdam’s Islamic University agrees.
"We will have to import halal meat from neighboring countries or find another way to meet the needs of the Muslim population. Becoming vegetarian could be an option as well."
Ruben Vis, a director of the Jewish community in the Netherlands, shares a similar view.
"For us this is not acceptable. It puts us in the position which is not acceptable," he said.
"Firstly, we will have to find ways how to serve needs of members of our community in the Netherlands.
"And secondly it’s a problem of freedom of religion, which is granted by the constitution. It feels like a separation between us, as the oldest religious group here, and Dutch society."
OnIslam & News Agencies