(13 Dec 2011)
1. Wide shot of the first chamber of Dutch Parliament
2. Esther Ouwehend, Member of Parliament for the Animal Party
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Esther Ouwehend, MP of the Animal Party:
"It's very important because we have very little animal welfare legislation, we believe, and one of the laws we have in this country is that it is prohibited to slaughter without sedating the animal first. The exception that has been made for religious groups is coming to an end, for our part. We don't feel it's justified to endorse or inflict extra suffering for animals for religious opinion."
4. Wide shot of mosque
5. Close-up on minaret
6. Street scenes, Muslim people
7. Wide shot on field with sheep
8. Mid shot on sheep
9. Close-up sheep
10. Various Halal slaughter house in Else
11. Wide shot on Rony Eisenmann, Chairman of Dutch-Israeli Synagogue
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Rony Eisenmann, Chairman of Dutch-Israeli Synagogue:
"I think it's mainly because animal rights on itself is becoming a religion on itself here in Europe, and of course we as the Jewish community find the animal welfare also crucial and important. But animal welfare should go hand-in-hand with the traditions and the Jewish way of thinking. It can be combined in a good and serious way, like we do this already for hundreds of years."
13. Wide shot Eisenmann going to the Dutch Parliament
STORYLINE:
Political support in the Netherlands for a proposed ban on slaughtering animals without stunning them first, appeared to crumble on Tuesday as the Dutch senate debated the legislation that Muslim and Jewish groups say violates their religious rights.
The ban - proposed by an animal rights party and widely supported by Dutch voters - passed parliament's lower house by a 116-30 margin in June, causing an international outcry from religious groups.
Although senators will not vote until December 20, it appeared from Tuesday's debate that several parties that initially backed the ban in parliament - including the Netherlands' two largest - have changed their minds.
If the Netherlands does outlaw procedures that make meat kosher for Jews or halal for Muslims, it will be the second country after New Zealand to do so in recent years. It would join Switzerland, the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, whose bans are mostly traceable to pre-World War II anti-Semitism.
Muslims make up about one (m) million of the 16 (m) million Dutch population - mostly immigrants from Turkey and Morocco.
The once-strong Jewish community numbers 40,000-50,000 after most were deported and killed by the Nazis during World War II.
Ritual slaughter rules prescribe that animals' throats must be cut swiftly with a razor-sharp knife while they are still conscious, so that they bleed to death quickly.
Support for the ban comes both from left-leaning voters who see ritual slaughter as inhumane, and from social conservatives who see it as foreign and barbaric.
Though the ban was proposed by the tiny Party for the Animals, who say the practice is "outdated", the ban's most enthusiastic backer has been the anti-Islam Freedom Party.
Rony Eisenmann, Chairman of the Dutch-Israeli Synagogue, was asked why the issue was on the Dutch political agenda.
"I think it's mainly because animal rights on itself is becoming a religion on itself here in Europe, and of course we as the Jewish community find the animal welfare also crucial and important. But animal welfare should go hand-in-hand with the traditions and the Jewish way of thinking. It can be combined in a good and serious way, like we do this already for hundreds of years," he said.
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