Legal protection of animals in Israel

Abstract

Israel’s legislatures have been strongly promoting animal welfare and animal rights in recent decades, as lawmakers have united in giving increased importance to animal cruelty and suffering at the Knesset, in a country where the number of vegans is growing impressively in line with Jewish religious and ethical values. The Supreme Court of Israel developed a three-stage test to determine whether an act is prohibited by the law, adopting a costs and benefits approach with regards to cases of alleged animal cruelty, which has prompted the ban of the force-feeding process used in the making of foie gras. However there remains room for improvement, as there is still no ban on the use of battery-cages for hens in Israel, nor of dehorning cattle without anesthesia. There are two main practices that must still be addressed as contributors to animal suffering; the shipments of live animals to be slaughtered in the Holy Land, and the ritual slaughter under kashrut. However, Government authorities are encouraging the abandonment of the practice of kaparot, with some cities having banned it already. Could the gap between animal welfare (implementation of animal welfare basic Jewish principles) and animal rights (putting an end to the slaughtering at all) be crossed with a cautious, selective and animal friendly interpretation of Jewish Laws historically putting human interests first, by trumping the speciesism that has been inherent to most religious interpretations? Vegan Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbis generate hope for such a change, in addition to increased secular viewpoints and democratic activism, helping the interests of non-human animal to override human greed - nothing ever seems impossible in the land of milk and honey.