Israeli Religious Services Minister David Azulay denounced a vote in the Parliament of Wallonia, one of Belgium’s regions, to ban kosher slaughter or shechita of animals.

Speaking to European Jewish Press, the minister, who is a member of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party, declared: "This decision constitutes a severe violation of freedom of religion and harms the feelings of many Jews who have no desire whatsoever than to strictly observe Jewish law and to perform kosher slaughter as Jewish tradition.’’

He added that ‘’studies prove that this slaughter also prevents suffering from animals, calling the decision ‘’undemocratic’’ and ‘’a severe harm to religious worship.’’

The Walloon Parliament’s Environment Committee decreed last week that all kosher and halal slaughter without stunning will be banned from September 2019. The issue is set to be debated later this month in the Parliament’s plenary, The parliament of the Flemish region has also indicated its wish to ban kosher slaughter by early 2019.

Attacks on Jewish religious practices also happened in Norway where over the weekend, the Progressive Party, one of the two ruling parties in the country (along with the Conservative Party) announced that it intends to initiate a law banning circumcision in the country for males under the age of 16.

The initiators of the Norwegian law claim that circumcision constitutes mental and mental harm to children and constitutes a serious violation of children's rights.

Member of the Knesset Dr. Avraham Neguise, who chairs the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, denounced the moves in Belgium and Norway. For him, ‘’the anti-Jewish legislation pushed forward by certain parties in Belgium and Norway does not comply with their attempt to be democratic and progressive societies.’’

‘’True democracies respect all religions, as well as the freedom of worship of their people,’’ he told EJP.

‘’European legislators should be extra sensitive to the freedom of the Jews that live there, due to their problematic past not too long ago,’’ he added.

Neguise said that as chairman of the Knesset Committee for Diaspora Affairs ‘’I am very concerned by these trends.’’ The committee will hold a discussion on the issue.”

On Sunday, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, who heads the European Jewish Association (EJA), a group representing Jewish communities, wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett, calling on them to urgently establish a joint working team for both government offices and Jewish organizations in Europe, in order to prevent the spread of anti-Jewish legislation.

"I have no doubt that the State of Israel, the state of the Jewish people,cannot remain indifferent to it, and I call on you to exert all your political influence in order to prevent the exclusion of Jews from life in various European countries," wrote Margolin.

The Minister of Education and of Diaspora Affairs declined to comment the new legislations.