On Thursday February 27, 2014, a delegation of American Muslim and Jewish leaders, spearheaded by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU), met with the Ambassador of Denmark to the United States, Peter Taksøe-Jensen, to express their shock and dismay over Denmark’s recent ban on kosher/halal ritual slaughter.
The ban, which has elicited an outcry from the Danish Muslim and Jewish communities and from Jews and Muslims across Europe and around the world, went into effect last week by edict of Danish Minister of Agriculture and Food Dan Jorgensen, who issued an edict outlawing any slaughter of animals that are not first stunned. In explaining his decision, Jørgensen remarked, “Animal rights come before religion”; shocking and angering Muslims and Jews worldwide who believe that their respective venerable practices of ritual slaughter, which forbid stunning, are performed in a manner that ensures that the animal suffers the least possible pain during slaughtering.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, President of the FFEU, commented that the ban “has created a hostile atmosphere that threatens Muslim and Jewish life in Denmark. We are dismayed that the government of a country which has been a friend to the Jewish community going back to the successful evacuation of Danish Jews to Sweden during the Nazi occupation, would now argue that the sacred right of the country’s Jews and Muslims to practice their faiths unhindered is less important than animal rights.”
Dr. Sayyid Syeed, national director of ISNA remarked, “This ban may make it impossible for Danish Muslims to observe important events in the Muslim calendar, like the annual Eid-al-Adha celebration, when Muslims are commanded to sacrifice an animal as a symbol of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son. One can only wonder if the Danish government is seeking to make life so difficult for Muslims and Jews that many will decide to leave the country.
Professor Marshall Breger, who formerly served as liaison to the American Jewish community under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, commented that “kosher and halal is humane and science backs that up. In the balance between religious rights and animal rights, this edict does not advance animal rights but severely curtails religious rights of Muslim and Jews and we hope the Danish government reconsiders.”
The FFEU which works to strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations and to combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in 35 countries around the world is also organizing Jews and Muslims to meet with Danish ambassadors in major European capitals in the coming days. FFEU and its affiliate the Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders, is coordinating its response to the new Danish law closely with Danish Chief Rabbi Bent Lexner and Muslim leaders in Denmark, who have urged their compatriots around the world to make clear to Danish officials that the law banning kosher and halal slaughtering will cause great harm to Danish Jews and Muslims.
Participants in the Muslim-Jewish Leadership delegation to Denmark-US Embassy
- Rabbi Marc Schneier, President of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding
- Dr. Sayyid Syeed- National Director for the Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
- Dr. Mohammad Elsanousi- Director of Community outreach for ISNA
- Marshall Breger- Former Jewish Liaison to Ronald Reagan and Current Vice President of the Jewish Policy Center, Professor of Law at Columbus Law School, Catholic University of America
- Suhail Khan– Director of External Affairs for Microsoft, former liaison to the South Asian community by President George W. Bush and Muslim co-chair of Standing Up for Other (SUFO) sub-committee of Greater Washington Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee (GWMJSC)
- Symi Rom-Rymer- Founder of the Global Muslim-Jewish Friendship Forum and Jewish co-chair of SUFO
- Dr. Maqsood Chaudry– President of the Mclean Islamic Center, major interfaith leader in Virginia
- Jason Kampf- FFEU Board Member, Vice President and Director of Research for CoVant
- Parvez Khan–leader of JAM DC (Jews and Muslims in DC), one of main constituent groups of GWMJSC
- Will Eastman, FFEU Executive Director