A ban in Belgium on the Jewish and Muslim manner of slaughter for kosher and halal meat – namely ritual slaughter without stunning – was scheduled to take effect on New Year’s Day 2019. The Flemish Region passed the measure in July 2017 over objections posed by the leaders of religious faith communities.
Belgium’s Jewish population numbers 40,000, half of whom live in the Flemish Region. Kosher slaughterhouses in Antwerp, the Flemish Region’s capital, provide meat to many Jewish communities in Europe.
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