"I was shocked by the overwhelming majority that opponents of kosher shechitah managed to secure in the Dutch parliament," said HaRav Eliezer Wolff, the av beis din of Amsterdam, following the Dutch parliament's decision to ban shechitah and Muslim ritual slaughter in the Netherlands.
The 116-30 vote is considered a threat to Jews throughout Europe. The future of the Dutch kehilloh is now shrouded in uncertainty. Jewish activists who worked indefatigably to prevent the bill from passing mistakenly thought they had succeeded in swaying public opinion and that more representatives would vote against the ban. A few days before the vote, the Dutch minister of justice said, "The proposed law discriminates against the Jewish community and is a violation of Dutch law."
Speaking by phone, HaRav Wolff told this reporter that two members of parliament from the eccentric fringe party PvdD (Party for the Animals) managed to persuade almost the entire parliament, except for the Christian Democratic Party, to back a law that makes stunning before slaughter mandatory.
Yielding to pressure, the Muslims agreed to stunning, though the extreme right-wing and left-wing factions were driven more by a desire to restrict them than by pity for the slaughtered animals. HaRav Wolff said the Jews are worried by the upcoming meeting to consider the law in the Dutch senate, which must ratify the law.
Far right-wing parties in Europe were encouraged by the unconventional party's success in sweeping the vote and are now preparing to advance anti-shechitah bills in France and in the European Parliament.
In Paris, Marie Le Pen, leader of the National Front Party, announced she would "take slaughtering laws by storm" in her presidential bid, in order to win votes and to present her party — which is identified with Nazi cruelty — as humane to animals. In France the right wing has long been aligned with the Greens in inciting against shechitah.
