Dec. 18, 2020
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 Semjen, the head of the right-wing Christian Democratic People’s Party, a coalition partner of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party.
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.
Kosher Meat Shortages Ahead as EU Court Permits Shechitah Ban | The Jewish Press - JewishPress com | David Israel | 3 Tevet 5781 – December 17, 2020 jewishpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jewishpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
EU flags fly in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.
‘’The European Union does not protect its religious minorities anymore,’’ said Yohan Benizri, president of CCOJB, the umbrella group representing Jewish organisations in Belgium, in a reaction to the ruling delivered by the European Court of Justice allowing member states to go as far as outlawing religious slaughter in an approved slaughterhouse.
The Court was responding to the question on a preliminary ruling by the Belgian regions of Flanders and Wallonia which have banned religious ritual slaughter by requiring the prior stunning of the animals thus making EU-law based religious slaughter exception meaningless.