The Supreme Court has been asked by two organizations and a Justice Ministry official to issue an injunction which would ban a bullfight scheduled in the Bloomfield Stadium in Jaffa later this month as part of Israel’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
Aharon Berman, a local impresario who conceived the idea for what he calls a “Spanish fiesta,” said no bulls will be killed during the event which has received approval from the Interior Ministry. Berman is bringing toreadors and matadors from Spain and also a circus and performing dwarfs.
The request for the injunction, submitted by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Federation of SPCAs, and Yosef Leon, a Justice Ministry official in charge of affairs related to cruelty to animals, dismissed as irrelevant Berman’s claim that no bulls will be killed.
The plaintiffs stated that while the bull is a basically quiet animal “he could lose his balance if the violent aspects of his character are aggravated intentionally. This loss of balance in an atmosphere of an excited and action-thirsty crowd will lead to ‘accidents’ in which the bull will be killed or wounded. Even were the bull not wounded or killed it (the fiesta) would be tormenting for the sake of plain sadistic enjoyment.”
FOREIGN TO JEWISH SPIRIT
Shula Braudo, chairman of Israel WIZO, wrote to the Ministry of Tourism and to the two chief rabbis to urge cancellation of the bullfight. She stated that these games are “foreign to the Jewish spirit and contrary to the principles that sanctify life.”
Joan Comay, SPCA president, termed the bullfight “immoral and alien to the Jewish spirit and runs counter to the education of our children in human values.” Even if no bull is killed, she added, “it would still be a spectacle associated with a gross act of cruelty and should have no place in Israeli life.”
Previous attempts to hold bullfights in Israel have been thwarted. In 1955 Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog personally campaigned against the visit of a Spanish troupe of bullfighters who were to perform in Ramat Gan. In 1973 Interior Minister Yosef Burg refused permission for a bullfight exhibition as part of Israel’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
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