New Zealand: Jewish Community to Sue over Kosher Ban

WELLINGTON – The nation’s Jewish community has begun mounting a legal case against the government in a bid to overturn a ban on the kosher slaughter of meat, the Jewish Chronicle reported on July 29.  The legal case is likely to focus on the ban’s apparent violation of New Zealand’s Bill of Rights, which protects the right for a person to practice their religion, and its possible breach of the Animal Welfare Act, which contains provisions for religious rights.  Community spokesperson David Zwartz said that attempts to convince Agriculture Minister David Carter to reverse the ban on shechitah had failed.