December 18, 2020
12:26 pm
Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, second from left, meets with rabbis in Budapest, Hungary on Nov. 18, 2019. (EMIH)
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(JTA) — Hungary’s deputy prime minister called Thursday’s ruling by the European Union’s highest court in favor of banning kosher slaughter a “disgrace,” setting up the first public international clash over the landmark decision.
“Yesterday’s ruling by the European Court of Justice upholding a ban on kosher ritual slaughter in Belgium is a disgrace to the religious freedom and security of the European Jewish community and is yet one more sign of the total collapse of our traditional Judeo-Christian value system,” said Zsolt Semjén, the head of the right-wing Christian Democratic People’s Party, a coalition partner of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party.