Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), reacted with “immense disappointment” at the decision by the Sejm, the Poland’s parliament, to ban on religious slaughter of animals in the country, calling it ‘’a slap in the face of Jews and Muslims alike.’’
‘’It is a bitter blow for all those who undertook great strides to bring about a renaissance of Jewish life in Poland. I am wondering what sort of message those who voted in favor of the ban wanted to send to their non-Christian citizens,” Lauder said in a statement.
On Friday, the lower house of the Polish parliament rejected a government motion to relegalize the religious practice of kosher and halal slaughter.
The ritual slaughter of animals was banned by Poland’s Constitutional Court last December after judges found that it was ‘’incompatible with animal rights legislation.‘
222 members of the parliament voted against the reintroduction of slaughtering without the animal first being stunned with 178 voting for the motion.
The WJC president said: “Jews who observe the Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) have reason to ask themselves if they are still welcome in Poland. Today, the country that once had the largest Jewish community in the world has become the first European country since World War II to ban religious slaughter.’’
“In the Sejm debate, some speakers even claimed that shechita (the Jewish kosher slaughtering) was foreign to Poland’s culture, a notion that is both upsetting and wrong. I wonder if the lawmakers are aware of the far-reaching implications their decision is going to have, and I very much hope that they will reconsider and repeal this ban soon,” he pointed out.
He noted that the prohibition of kosher slaughter in Poland meant that observant Jews would from now on have to rely on expensive imported meat in the future.
Given that Poland was a major exporter of kosher and halal meat, including to Israel, he predicted that the ban would also adversely affect Jewish and Muslim communities outside the country.