First Chamber factions now doubting ritual slaughter ban

THE HAGUE - The future of a proposed ban on ritual slaughter in the Netherlands may be in doubt after all, since the VVD party faction of the First Chamber does not seem to be very eager to support the legislation, adopted by the Second Chamber. VVD Senator Sybe Schaap commented that the ban, which has drawn criticism from Muslim and Jewish religious organizations, ‘has a poor legal framework’. He did not confirm if the VVD would vote against the legislation. There are also members of the GreenLeft and D66 who are unconvinced of the rationality of the ban legislative proposal which is very much opposed by both Dutch Jews and Muslims and has drawn wide attention in Jewish communities throughout the world. The ban which many feel infringes on religious freedom was debated at an Amsterdam event where one conservative liberal VVD parliamentarian, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschart went still much further: drop religious freedom, a constitutional matter, altogether. Jewish commentators around the world, such those of the Canadian Jewish Congress, are anticipating that a ban on circumcision may be next in the Netherlands.