Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Did Shimon Peres Serve Non-Kosher Meat?

President Shimon Peres is a proud advocate of Jewish culture and respect for religion. But has he been serving his guests treyf?

The Israeli media is abuzz with the rumor that meat for Peres’s Independence Day celebration was bought from a non-kosher Arab butcher.

The news site NRG reported that the meat was bought in the Arab locale of Abu Gosh, and that a rabbinate official has said that a kashrut inspector approved the meat without being sure of its origins. According to the report, the company Pri Haaretz was called for a hearing at the supervising rabbinate but did not show so had its license revoked. An unofficial English summary of the article can be found here.

The whole story is bizarre in a state where most meat is kosher: Why would caterers use non-kosher? To save money? On the other hand, it’s more believable on Yom Haatzmaut than any other day, as kosher meat shops sell out due to the barbecuing tradition among Jews in celebration of that day. Arab shops maintain normal supplies — and for much of the day many Jewish-run shops are closed.

According to this report, Peres’s office is now considering legal action against the caterers, and a spokesperson described the findings as “very serious.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.