Sydney, Australia – Princess Alia bint al-Hussein of Jordan has appealed to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to stop the ritual slaughter of conscious animals for halal meat in Australia.
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She said its continuation would set back attempts to improve animal welfare in the Middle East.
The princess, sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan, told The Age she had written to Mr Rudd to voice her concerns that any lowering of animal welfare standards in Australia for religious reasons would be a blow to Australia’s reputation and undermine progress in the region.
She said killing without stunning ”may meet the personal preferences of a minority”, but was ”not necessary” under Islamic principles. Australia exports 1.3 million tonnes of red meat, of which 382,000 tonnes is certified halal.
The Australian standard on ritual slaughter for halal and kosher meat states that animals must be rendered unconscious by electrical stunning before their throats are cut. But under a disputed federal guideline, the Government has allowed at least four Victorian abattoirs exemptions to kill without stunning to fulfil Middle Eastern export contracts over the past two years.
The Primary Industries Ministerial Council of federal and state agriculture ministers will discuss the issue in Perth on Friday, but opponents of killing without stunning are concerned that exemptions will be allowed to continue, or the standard will be changed.
The previous government ordered a review of ritual slaughter in 2007, but federal Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke has not released the review report and is yet to decide on the issue.
Princess Alia said she believed Mr Rudd had a genuine interest in animal welfare and had assisted Jordan with upgrading equipment – previously provided by Australia – that she considered inhumane at the main abattoir in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Jordan imports more than a million live sheep and cattle from Australia each year.
Mr Burke said agriculture ministers would receive an update on technical details at Friday’s meetings.
”There are a variety of views within Islam as to what constitutes halal food, and a similar range of views in Judaism as to what constitutes kosher food,” he said. ”It’s not for government to adjudicate over these differences, but it is our role within the spectrum of faiths in Australia to promote the most humane practices.”
But Princess Alia said Muslims who believed animals could not be stunned before slaughter for halal meat were not educated about the true teachings of Islam.
”I say this based on several fatwas and extensive discussions with the Islamic authorities who are qualified to pronounce upon such matters,” she said.
Mr Burke has faced increasing pressure over the ritual slaughter issue. A Labor backbencher, member for Fremantle Melissa Parke, tabled a question in Parliament last week asking why exemptions to the ritual slaughter standard were granted and what consultations had taken place with religious groups.
Ms Parke told The Age she believed all slaughter for meat production, ritual or otherwise, should require stunning under the Australian standard.
”There is no excuse for the mistreatment of animals, especially when ritual slaughter for religious reasons can be – and is being – conducted in keeping with humane animal welfare standards.”
She said her view was consistent with Labor Party principles and that at the recent ALP conference the party had adopted an animal welfare protection statement stipulating that animals should be treated humanely.
Who knew the Jordanians were so liberal…
For Eid Al Adha, Muslims slaughter goats, cows and sheep everywhere. Blood and guts runs all over the street, yet PETA is nowhere to be found.
The shochtim in Australia should be able to conform with whatever rules the government adopts while still respecting hilchot shechita as much as possible. In any event, given the obligations we have under “dina d’malchusa” they will have no choice but to comply with the law.
I was just wondering does the sensitve princess also have the same capation for jews a who are fully concios when they are blown up?!
Firstly to this so called princess, I wish her well, but the question begs to be asked, are her people being treated any better than those animals she claims need special attention. My assumption is they the people of Jordan are worse off than any animal ready for ritual slaughter in Australia.
As I have first hand seen how the Kosher slaughtering and Halal is performed in a number of abbatoirs throughout Victoria, Australia, the processes are humane and considerably better than most countries in the world.
To argue that stunning is better than Shchita would be only noticeable at first hand glance. But in truth, stunning is conveniently done for financial purposes so that the animal does not have any residual movement after its demise. However, the animal’s brain is still aware and may in fact suffer considerably after it has been stunned. Whereas Shchita cuts the nerve directly related to the animal’s brain allowing its demise to be sudden and to experience next to zero pain, albeit it may have some residual movement after the initial act of cutting, but in no way is that related to its suffering after the act of shchita is performed.
If a law is passed forbidding shchita it will be a breach of fundamental religious freedom and this principle will not be tolerated by Australians.
So if the Government says we can eat treife so should travel on shabbos- we say dina d’malchuse dina??
I must have learnt in the wrong Yeshiva!
first rubashkin now this.
its a war against kashrus
I am semi vegetarian but don’t want govt telling me no schechita al pi halacha
australia has largest holocaust surviving population (i think)
hundredsof thousands of yidden
if ch”vs they lose this they won’t be able to shecht period
“In any event, given the obligations we have under “dina d’malchusa” they will have no choice but to comply with the law.”
so is it, that Dina D’malchusa overrides all other Laws of the Torah?
1. It is not true according to all poskim that dina de malchusa is limited to dinei mamonos. The Rema holds that any dina de malchusa passed le takanas ha medina must be followed.
2. Clearly, dina de malchusa cannot change hilkhos shechita. If a certain way of shechting renders the animal a neveilah (e.g. pre-shechita stunning) then dina de malchusa does not magically change the shechita into a kosher shechita.
3. As some have pointed out, there is a way to follow both: don’t do shechita, and then either eat other foods (fish, eggs, dairy, vegetables) or import kosher meat. Acc. to my understanding, that is in fact what happens today in Switzerland.
That, however, is a hard way to run a kehilla, and will result in the long-term decline of the Jewish community in that country. (Also, Switzerland is right next door to France, which allows shechita, while Australia is literally on the other side of the globe from the other major Jewish communities that have kosher slaughterhouses.) Rather sad and has a whiff of anti-semitism, in my opinion.
Jordan should first work on it’s HUMAN RIGHTS, before worrying about the ritual slaughter of animals in other parts of the world.
I didn’t hear Jordan protesting the brutal beating that a Saudi Prince inflicted and had videotaped for his pleasure.
Here in the UK, nearly all Halal meat is now pre-stunned. Pre-stunning does not seem to be an issue with Muslims.
In the UK about half of kosher meat comes from animals which have be stunned immediately post cut. I used to know why some objected to post cut stunning however it has slipped my memory. Can anyone remind me why it is forbidden by some and the source for their disapproval?