In France's election, a meaty issue unites Jews and Muslims

Source: Associated Press

In France’s election, a meaty issue unites Jews and Muslims

By JOHN LEICESTER
April 15, 2022

PARIS (AP) — As she cooks lunch and talks politics, Sarah Gutmann has a nasty feeling — of would-be French president Marine Le Pen invading the privacy of her home and meddling with her Jewish faith and the plates of chicken and kosher sausages that she is frying for her husband and their eldest son.

That’s because the far-right candidate wants to outlaw ritual slaughter if she’s elected next Sunday. And that could directly impact how Gutmann feeds her family and exercises her religious freedom. She and her husband, Benjamin, say they would have to think about leaving France if a far-right government interfered with observant Jews’ kosher diets. Their fear is that under Le Pen, targeting ritually slaughtered meats could be just the start of steps to make French Jews and Muslims feel unwelcome.

“Attacking the way we eat impinges on our privacy and that is very serious,” Gutmann said as she busied herself in the kitchen of their Paris home.

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Le Pen says all animals should be stunned before slaughter, and frames the issue as one of animal welfare. That’s unacceptable to observant Jews and Muslims who believe stunning causes unnecessary animal suffering and that their ritual slaughters for kosher and halal meats are more humane.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/sports-france-europe-paris-marine-le-pen-d77606f09df17415b94c273eb71be489