Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara have added their names to a list of public figures and organisations joining the Meatless Monday initiative, which involves going meat-free every Monday. “With my responsibility as prime minister to protect the lives of people here, I feel committed to increase awareness to fight cruelty toward animals,” Netanyahu said. Their son Yair has been a vegetarian for two years, and Sara’s father was one of the first vegans in Israel. “I come from a home which was highly aware of the issue,” Sara said. “I am interested in helping raise additional people’s awareness and sensitivity to the suffering of animals.”
In other news, Israel is about to become the first country in the world to ban the sale of fois gras, the production of which has been illegal under Israel law for almost ten years. One of our trustees, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland Rabbi David Rosen, was quoted in the Jewish Chronicle’s coverage of this development, saying that foie gras, the process of force-feeding weeks-old ducks up to 2 kg of food daily through a metal tube that is pushed down their throats, “is in complete contravention of the Torah’s prohibition of causing tsa’ar ba’alei chayim (cruelty or pain to animals)”. We hope that Israel’s ban will pave the way for many other countries getting rid of this horrendous practice.