The European Jewish Congress (EJC) has convened a meeting of several Jewish organizations to launch the political and legal battle against the legislation to ban shechita or kosher slaughter in Holland.
The law banning the slaughter of livestock without stunning was passed last month by the lower house of the Dutch Parliament and now needs to pass the Senate for ratification before the end of the year.
Participants at the meeting included Shechita UK, prominent members of the Dutch community and the European Conference of Rabbis, all of which are active in the fight to maintain the right to shechita.
They approved a coordinated approach which will include legal action, lobbying members of the Dutch Senate and seeking an independent renowned expert to assert that kosher slaughter is equally, if not more humane, than most other means of slaughter.
The multi-faceted approach aimed at ensuring that Jews in Holland continue to freely practice their religion include obtaining legal advice indicating that there is a strong basis to defeat this law in court.
"The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is extremely clear on the protection of religious freedom, especially when weighed against the protection of animals." said Albert Guigui, Chief Rabbi of Brussels.
"There is a tremendous battle ahead, but the Jewish community is united and we have a plan of action that will be implemented," said EJC president Moshe Kantor.
He warned that the law is threatening to severely curtail Jewish life on the whole continent of Europe.
Holland’s Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs has said the exemption in the law stipulated “that we must prove the animal slaughtered the Jewish way suffers less or the same as with stunning, but this is absolutely impossible to prove. You can’t ask the animal how it feels afterwards. Nobody can prove this.”
Rabbi Jacobs said he's been inundated with calls from many in the Jewish community concerned about the ban's ramifications. "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."
The ban is an affront to both the Jewish and Muslim communities who have together condemned the ban as an infringement on their right to practice their faith.
"It is a sad day for religious freedom in Europe when legislation is passed based on flawed, unsubstantiated science, merely to appease an ill-informed animal welfare lobby,” said Henry Grunwald, chairman of Shechita UK..
Rabbi Jacobs said Jews are alarmed as this recalls the "the very first law made by the Germans in Holland was the banning of schechita."
"Holland is a sophisticated country and other countries look to Holland as an example, and we are afraid of the domino effect, that other countries will follow. This is the reason so many countries are watching the Netherlands today, " he said.