No Plans To Reverse Kosher Slaughter Ban, Polish Premier Says
Is It Kosher? Poland?s Prime Minister Donald Tusk says a constitutional court will rule at some point whether a ban on kosher slaughter violates religious rights of Jews. Image by getty images
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had no plans to reintroduce legislation to lift a ban on the production of kosher meat, despite mounting criticism from Isreal and Jewish groups that it is harmful to Jews in Poland.
Polish lawmakers last week rejected a government-backed draft law that would have allowed slaughterhouses to produce meat in accordance with Jewish ritual law.
The law’s opponents said the practice, which has been halted since a constitutional court ruling last year, is cruel to livestock.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday the ban on kosher slaughter methods damaged efforts to rehabilitate Jewish life in a country whose large Jewish community was nearly wiped out under German occupation during World War Two.
“Right now we are not planning any legislative action in this matter,” Tusk told a news conference.
He added the government would await a decision by a constitutional court on whether the ban on kosher slaugher was harming the rights of religious minorities.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
