Belgium Jews Set to Fight Shechitah Ban

European Jews are preparing for a final battle to prevent a ban on shechitah in Brussels, a move that would in practice prohibit shechitah across all of Belgium.

Shechitah is already banned in two of the country’s three regions.

In closed meetings last week in Munich, the Conference of European Rabbis expressed concerns that if passed, a Belgium ban on shechitah could lead other countries to follow suit.

In an interview, Brussels Rabbi Abraham Gigi called the ban an “injustice. The slaughter in Belgium is crueler. Hundreds of thousands of animals endure terrible suffering before slaughter, and they don’t care. They slaughter 10 million pigs by suffocating them with gas, they hear them screaming, and they don’t care.

“We are worried that if this passes, it could snowball [to other countries]. There are voices in France and many countries in Europe that demand kosher slaughter be canceled,” Rabbi Gigi said.

Rabbi Gigi said that the Jewish community should refuse all offers of compromise. “We’ll lose shechitah in Belgium totally,” he warned.