The House of Commons rejected today an attempt to introduce a bill banning Shechita, the Jewish method of ritual slaughter. The vote on the private bill was 178 to 132.
Opening a short debate, Conservative Member R.F. Crouch, author of the bill, said he wanted to make it clear that he was not anti-Semitic. In an allusion to Moses, whom he called the first Minister of Health, Mr. Crouch granted that there were health reasons in Moses’ day for the Jewish method of slaughter, but he wanted to amend current regulations on slaughter in Britain so that the Jewish ritual method, which he considered cruel, be banned.
He noted that most of the cattle which fed London were killed by shechita, regardless of who ate the meat and he believed non-Jews would prefer more humane methods of slaughter for the meat they ate. Mr. Crouch was interrupted by Martin Lindsay, Conservative, who said he had visited a slaughterhouse this morning and had witnessed the Jewish method of slaughter. “I’ve seen these animals killed by the Jewish method and can say there is absolutely nothing cruel about it whatever.” Mr. Lindsay declared. Sir Henry d’Avigdor Goldsmid, a Jew and a Conservative, denied that shechita was any less humane than other methods of slaughter. He reported that four non-Jewish MP’s visited a slaughterhouse earlier today to witness shechita and had found it no more cruel than any other method of slaughter. He also pointed out that some 450 eminent figures in this country and Europe, including medical and health authorities–all non-Jews had expressed the opinion that shechita was one of the most humane methods of slaughter.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
