AHEAD OF MUNICH AUCTION TOMORROW, EUROPEAN JEWISH CHIEF CALLS ON GERMAN POLITICAL LEADERS TO BAN SALE OF NAZI MEMORABILIA
AND PUT BUYERS ON WATCH LIST
“You all say ‘Never Again’, make it so”, urges Rabbi Menachem Margolin .
At 10am today morning (CET) a major Munich based auction house Hermann Historica is conducting an online sale of personal items such as cutlery sets, jewellery and signed letters and photographs belonging to the leadership of the Nazi Party – Himmler, Goring and Hitler himself among them.
European Jewish Association (EJA) Chairman Rabbi Menachem has written to the leadership of all of Germany’s mainstream political parties to put in place legislation that will ban the public sale of such items and – in the meantime – compel sellers to divulge the names of buyers so that they can be kept on government watch lists in the interests of public safety.
In his letter to all the political leaders, the EJA Chief suggested that the authorities would want to know who was buying the personal items of Osama Bin Laden, Anders Breivik or Stephan Ernst for public safety reasons, and those glorifying, sentimentalising or adulating the Nazis are every bit as dangerous.
Rabbi Margolin wrote,
“Almost every week we at the European Jewish Association are having to respond to attacks on community buildings and more worryingly still, physical or verbal attacks on Jews themselves. Alarmingly, it is Germany that leads Europe in the sheer volume of reported anti-Semitic incidents.
“Selling such items should be no different to selling the personal items belonging to Osama Bin Laden, or Anders Breivik. The argument of historical interest is pure semantics. As political representatives concerned with the wellbeing and safety of your citizens, we cannot help wonder if you would not want to know who was buying Bin Laden’s fruit bowl or Stephan Ernst’s photographs and why they would even want them.
“In waiting for a ban to be put in place, we urge the German authorities to compel auction houses to divulge the names of those who are buying such material, in order to know whose hands they have fallen into. The names should then be put on a government ‘watch’ list, for public safety.
“Six Million Jewish lives were lost during the Nazi regime. Today an increasing number of Jewish lives are being lost and more are threatened because of the “oldest hatred”.
“Politicians are wont to say ‘never again’. We urge you to make it so.”
Halal and kosher meat cannot be labelled organic if the animal was not stunned before being killed, the EU’s highest court has ruled.
The official EU organic logo must not be used on any meat derived from an animal slaughtered while still conscious, the EU Court of Justice said on Tuesday.
Organic labelling marks out the highest standards in farming welfare, judges ruled.
Stunning animals – often done through electric shocks or through a bolt to the brain – significantly reduces suffering and therefore is integral to organic standards, the judgement concluded.
Contrary to popular belief, most livestock slaughtered in halal abattoirs are stunned before they are killed.
The official EU organic logo must not be used on any meat derived from an animal slaughtered while still conscious, the EU Court of Justice said on Tuesday.
Organic labelling marks out the highest standards in farming welfare, judges ruled.
Stunning animals – often done through electric shocks or through a bolt to the brain – significantly reduces suffering and therefore is integral to organic standards, the judgement concluded.
Contrary to popular belief, most livestock slaughtered in halal abattoirs are stunned before they are killed.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) estimates about 88% of animals killed through halal methods are stunned beforehand using techniques acceptable in Islamic law.
But a minority of halal food – and all kosher meat – does not involve stunning.
The case was brought to the EU court by a French animal welfare association in 2012, which argued halal beef should not be labelled organic.
The rules on ritual slaughter in both Islam and Judaism are complex. To be truly halal, an animal must first be healthy and then slaughtered by a Muslim by cutting the throat with a sharp knife in a single slash.
The blood must then be fully drained from the carcass. A 2012 FSA report said about 12% of the 940 million cows, sheep, pigs, and poultry birds slaughtered each year in Britain were killed in a halal manner.
It is possible to stun halal animals via electricity which makes the creatures unconscious but not dead before their throats are ritually slit.
However, Jewish kosher slaughter, known as shechita, cannot use pre-killing stunning.
Jewish abattoirs also cut the throat of animals with a sharp blade, which proponents insist causes immediate loss of consciousness and is therefore humane and meets the EU’s requirements for stunning.
The EU ruling does not affect the legality of ritual halal or kosher slaughter, but will make it harder for some ritually-slaughtered meat to be labelled organic.
Longstanding rules create an exception under the need for freedom of religion to EU regulations on killing animals without pre-stunning.
But some EU nations, including Denmark and most recently Belgium, have banned entirely ritual slaughter, a move backed by both animal welfare advocates and right-wing populists
The article was published on The independent