New Zealand violates religious rights of Jews

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
December 1, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1133/new-zealand-violates-religious-rights-of-jews

The small Jewish community in New Zealand will continue a long legal battle, which started since last May in getting a verdict from the High Court [which will cost more than US$ 250,000], allowing them to continue the kosher slaughter. New Zealand banned the slaughter of animals or poultry if it is not stunned first. Initially though the court has overturned the ban on kosher poultry of poultry, there is yet to be a decision on slaughter of lamb and other kosher animals. The New Zealand community will now continue negotiations in relation to lamb and, until those negotiations are concluded, the interim orders, which were previously granted enabling the shechita of lamb, will continue.

The banning of kosher slaughter, in New Zealand, has taken a new turn, with the New Zealand Herald reporting that Agriculture Minister David Carter, the architect of the ban, broke the rules governing his portfolio by considering trade implications when making the original decision.

Carter approved animal welfare regulations in the new Commercial Slaughter Code which, by requiring animals to be stunned before killing, effectively made slaughter according to strict kosher rules impossible. An exception to the animal welfare laws for shechita slaughter - the previous state of affairs - was rejected by the Minister in the new Code.

New Zealand newspaper, the Herald, obtained a series of documents suggesting trade interests and a possible conflict of interest may have had a bearing on the decisions, which were examined in a High Court judgement on whether or not to make the Minister available for cross-examination when the case comes to trial.

Carter owns shares in one of New Zealand's largest meat processors, Silver Fern Farms, and the Herald reports that the email correspondence it obtained suggests that he met with Silver Fern chairman Eoin Garden and chief executive Keith Cooper in March.

In the meeting, according to an email from Ministerial private secretary Natalie Nesbitt, the two executives indicated that trade with Muslim countries might suffer if it emerged kosher meat was allowed to be produced in New Zealand, while restrictions were placed on halal slaughter.

The New Zealand Muslim community did not raise any objections to the new Code, having used a 'pre-cut reversible stun' for the production of its Halal meats. It is not clear why the international Halal market would object to an exception being made for shechita slaughter, when according to the report on the Code; no submissions opposing the use of the pre-cut reversible stun were received from the Muslim community. Carter is also listed on the MPs Register of Pecuniary Interests as a shareholder in another meat producer exporting to Muslim countries, Alliance Group Ltd.

Shechita in Hebrew stands for stands for kosher slaughter. Nearly 7,000 Jewish families in New Zealand came under a very real threat when the New Zealand's government banned kosher slaughter, which was considered to be one of the most severe challenges to the well-being of any Jewish community in the world. New Zealand's Agriculture Minister David Carter rejected the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee's recommendation to exempt kosher slaughter from the new regulations. Instead he followed in the footsteps of some European trends that favor animals being stunned before slaughter. But while the EU has not made this practice mandatory and it is not required in the US or Canada, New Zealand took such uncompromising position. When confronted with the argument that the new law violated his nation's guarantee of religious freedom, Carter dismissed it, stating "We may have upset a relatively small minority".

Jewish Shechita is, first and foremost, a system for insuring a moral, painless, and yes, humane way to slaughter an animal. The Jewish people were practicing moral slaughter when animal cruelty was considered entertainment in Rome.

Everyone likes to think of New Zealand as a generally tolerant and benign place for its ethnic and religious minorities, with only occasional outbursts of mosque graffiti, Jewish grave desecration, or individual racist attacks – all of which are publicly condemned. What about this country's attitude to Jews? The Jews in New Zealand, an even smaller minority than New Zealand Chinese, came to New Zealand as immigrants from 1840 onward, often as refugees. Like the Chinese, they brought with them their religion, heritage and work ethic. Without doubt, Jews have added significantly to New Zealand's development in the past 180 years. Add to this the record of public service in politics and law, science and medicine, philanthropy and the arts, and it would seem that New Zealand has gained not-at-all-outrageous fortune from its Jewish citizens.

Shechita has been practised by Jews for thousands of years, and in New Zealand since 1843. It is part of the attitude to animal welfare referred to in the Bible and other Jewish teachings. Among these are feeding your animals at the end of the day before you yourself eat; not working them on the Sabbath; and eating only an animal that is healthy and uninjured [so observant Jews do not eat battery hens]. The method of animal killing closest to shechita is homekill, carried out legally by farmers throughout New Zealand.

In 2001 the Agriculture Ministry began a review of the Animal Welfare Code for commercial slaughter. There was long consultation, including talks with representatives of the New Zealand Jewish community.

In 2009, the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee reported the final revised version to the minister, recommending a dispensation for shechita, saying it was necessary to allow Jewish people to manifest their religion and belief [as provided for in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990].

The agriculture minister turned down this recommendation and the code was issued on May 28, 2010, without allowing any dispensation for shechita.

After unsuccessfully attempting negotiation with the government, the Jewish community decided it was necessary to take legal action.

At the beginning of August, after agreement between the community's lawyers and the Crown, a High Court judge ordered interim relief from the code. This allows shechita to continue until the outcome of the impending High Court case is known. In taking legal action, the Jewish community is not just protecting its own "right to manifest [Jewish] religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, or teaching, either individually or in community with others, and either in public or in private" as section 15 of the Bill of Rights Act states. It is also asserting the right of any minority ethnic or religious group to carry out its religion without interference from the state, as can be expected in a free and democratic society.

New Zealand's action against kosher slaughter is not only direct attack on right of religious freedom, but it also proves that the government is very much under the influence of anti-Semites. This will surely dampen New Zealand's reputation as a country of religious tolerance and equality as well ensuring rights of civilians. For the sake of upholding the image of the country, authorities in New Zealand should take immediate steps in removing the ban on shechita without further delay.

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