Hayim Dayan, CEO of the Israeli Cattle Breeders Association told me in a conversation I conducted with him for www.News1.co.il on October 30 that in the days leading to Eid al-Adha Israel transferred over 9,000 cows and calves and several thousand sheep to the Gaza Strip.
Israel imports over sixty thousand sheep from Australia and twenty percent of them are transported to the Gaza Strip (including those before Eid al-Adha), some directly through Israeli territory and some arrive in Israel for fattening before being transferred to the Gaza Strip at a later stage. The transfer of the beef to the Gaza Strip from Israel and Australia is done via the Palestinian cattle merchant Hosni Afana.
The slaughtering laws in Judaism and Islam are similar and Kosher meat is regarded Halal. The only main difference lies in permission by Islamic law to cut the animal’s throat several times during the slaughtering process. Jewish Law commands the slaughterer to cut most of the trachea and the esophagus in only one swipe of the knife.
The video clips documented countless incidents of extreme maltreatment of cattle, beginning with transporting the cattle to the slaughterhouses up until the slaughtering process itself. Cows were transported while tied in open van trunks or in carts towed by tractors. Cows with legs tied were slaughtered in the middle of streets in front of bystanders including children. The crowd would scream, cheer and jeer at the cattle lead to slaughter. At times one could hear in the background loud Islamic prayer chants (“Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar, there is no god but Allah”) that only added to the misery the cows suffered on their way to be slaughtered.
In the main Gaza slaughterhouse, the cows was entered into a metal box from which only their head could be seen. Employees then turned the metal box upside-down bringing the cows' heads to a convenient position, with their legs turned upwards and their heads turned downwards. Sometimes this stage lasted twenty six seconds, during which the bull would shake its head violently while suffering in this unnatural position. The slaughter itself took part in several stages. During the first stage, lasting some two seconds, the slaughterer cut the main veins in the cow’s throat several times with his knife causing a deep slash. For a further eleven seconds, until the end of the clip, he repeated cutting the animal's throat twice more.
In the first method, the slaughterer approaches the bull carrying a knife and stabs it in the throat causing profuse bleeding. The slaughterer then waits for the bull to weaken, whereupon he completes his task. In several cases the bull continues to stand bleeding and grasping for air while attempting to hold on to life for up to a minute. In one case the bull only breathed his last after three minutes since first being stabbed.
In various cases preparing the bull for slaughter is conducted in the following manner: the bull with a rope around its neck is tied to a pole. The commotion and anxiety lead the bull to try and escape causing it further physical pain. Ropes are then tied to its legs and these are pulled back robustly (in one incident with a forklift), thus the bull is pulled by the rope fixed round its neck and tied to a pole and its legs pulled strongly in the opposite direction. This exposes the bull's extended throat and allows the slaughterer an easier job.
Other bulls that escaped from the slaughterhouses were brought down by a crowd participating in the chase, tying its legs and head, pulling the ropes in opposite directions and bringing the bull to the ground after a struggle that lasted several minutes, causing suffering to the animal before the slaughter.
The Israeli animal rights' organizations 'Let the Animals Live' and 'Anonymous' have yet to address this extreme maltreatment of cattle and sheep imported into the Gaza Strip from Israel and Australia (via Israel), where Halal slaughtering is practiced. Speaking to these organizations, I was informed that they were unaware of these practices.
The British Sky News TV channel reported on the slaughtering of cattle and sheep for Eid al-Adha in the Gaza Strip, but completely ignored the slaughtering practices causing immense suffering to the animals.
To illustrate this case, on June 7, 2011, the Australian minister of agriculture, fishing and forestry ordered the suspension of export of animals for slaughter to Indonesia, after receiving evidence that in several slaughterhouses in that country maltreatment of animals is the norm.
Reprinted from the blog "Alternative Angle".