Animal rights activists beaten for protesting Kapparot ritual
Animal rights are attacked in Hadera after protesting against the Kapparot ritual, in which chickens are slaughtered as sacrifice on the eve of Yom Kippur.
Six animal rights activists were injured Thursday night after a fight erupted between them and a group of mostly non-religious people on Menachem Begin Boulevard in Hadera over the Kapparot ritual, practiced mainly by Ultra-Orthodox Jews on the eve of Yom Kippur.
The activists were protesting the use of chickens as sacrifice in the ritual.
Magen David Adom Paramedics gave medical treatment and evacuated six activists—five women and a man—who suffered light wounds and bruises to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center for treatment.
"We came to demonstrate against the despicable and barbaric practice that was conducted in front of children, which is also opposed by rabbis," recounted Tal Gilboa, founder of the Israeli Animal Liberation Front, on Friday morning.
"Within a minute, we were attacked, mainly by secular people. They beat us, threw stones, wooden planks and iron bars at us. One plank hit an activist in the chest and she lost consciousness. One of the attackers sprayed foam at us from a fire extinguisher, and later he also threw the fire extinguisher at us.
"Even after we went back, they continued to attack us. It was a lynching. If they had knives they would have killed us."
According to Gilboa, the activists called the police but claimed that it took them a long time to arrive.
"Even when police arrived, stones were still thrown at us. The policemen stood by and did nothing. They did not arrest any of the attackers, took two of them aside and released them.
"We were told by the police to come to the station to file complaints. We arrived and then they told us there was only one investigator and that it would take hours. So we left."
The police reported that "at the Golesh Junction, a fight broke out between the residents of the neighborhood and several dozen demonstrators (not licensed) who came to protest against the operation of an improvised chicken slaughterhouse in the neighborhood, opened ahead of Yom Kippur for the Kapparot ritual.
"Some of those involved were lightly injured. No complaints have yet been filed. The police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the incident."
