6 Animal Rights Activists Hurt In Protest Against Chicken-Swinging Rite
Image by getty images
(JTA) — Animal rights activists protesting the Jewish custom of swinging around a chicken were assaulted in the Israeli city of Hadera.
Six of the activists, one man and five women, were lightly wounded in the incident Thursday night, in which residents in Hadera began throwing stones and other objects at the protesters who came to demonstrate against the residents’ partaking in the custom of Kapparot, the pre-Yom Kippur folk custom of swinging a chicken around one’s head as a way of purging sin, which some believe is cruel.
Some of the attackers targeted the protesters from balconies of residential homes, the Israel Broadcasting Corporation reported Friday. A video of the incident shows that a fire extinguisher was also hurled at the protesters.
Police stood by and failed to interfere during the demonstration, which according to the corporation was conducting legally with permission.
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.
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.
