Jewish groups praise Advocate General Gerard Hogan for telling court bans on ritual slaughter are illegal.

Advocate General to the EU Court of Justice Gerard Hogan issued an opinion that laws banning Shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter) are illegal under European Union (EU) law.

The opinion was issued following the passage of a decree on July 7 on the permitted methods for the slaughtering of animals in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The decree was challenged by Muslim and Jewish groups for effectively banning ritual slaughter.

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In his opinion, Advocate Hogan wrote that "the Court should find that Member States are not permitted to adopt rules which provide, on the one hand, for a prohibition of the slaughter of animals without stunning that also applies to the slaughter carried out in the context of a religious rite and, on the other hand, for an alternative stunning procedure for the slaughter carried out in the context of a religious rite, based on reversible stunning and on condition that the stunning should not result in the death of the animal."

He further stated that even though there is a legal obligation to ensure the welfare of the animals being slaughtered, "Member States are obliged to respect the deeply held religious beliefs of adherents to the Muslim and Jewish faiths by allowing for the ritual slaughter of animals in this manner."

Jewish leaders praised the opinion, Read more at Arutz-7