Activists target exports of live cattle to Israel

Australia’s fifth largest market for live exports is at risk as Animals Australia launches a campaign in Israel.

An Animals Australia campaign advertisement in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Australia’s fifth largest market for live exports is at risk as Animals Australia launches a campaign in Israel aimed at turning public opinion against accepting shipments of Australian cattle and sheep.

Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel recently told a cross-party parliamentary committee, which unanimously condemned the live export trade, that he would find ways to limit the number of shipments accepted from Australia.

He faces a united political front calling for an outright ban, ­although activists say he also has the options of loosening restrictions on the importation of chilled meat and creating incentives for local abattoirs, which would dramatically reduce the demand for Australian shipments.

Two animal rights groups have also petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice to halt the issuing of import licences, with an initial hearing scheduled for February.

Australian officials have privately expressed concern that the political campaign against live ­exports is starting to bite and the Israeli government may consider shutting down the trade if solutions cannot be found to soothe public disquiet. But an industry source said ­importers were also lobbying the Israeli government in a ­behind-the-scenes effort to safeguard the industry politically from the activist campaign.

Israel is the third largest market by volume for Australian cattle producers and the fifth largest for sheep, according to Meat and Livestock Australia data.

Billboards and bus advertisements, fully funded by Animals Australia, appeared in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in late August. The ads feature a cow with its head stuck between two bars and a ­slogan in Hebrew: “Enough with the journeys of death! End the live shipments now.”

The advertisements are designed to keep public momentum alive into the next session of the Israeli parliament this month when MPs will again call Mr Ariel before a committee.

“Our aim is to stop the live ­exports. There is no reason to treat animals this way, and no reason for them to be suffering,” said Yael German, MP from the opposition Yesh Atid party.

Opposition MP Yael Cohen-Paran, who is heavily involved in the campaign, said Israeli authorities were already working with ­abattoirs in Eastern Europe and Latin America to organise kosher killing methods and circumvent the need for live animals.

Israelis are turning vegetarian and vegan in large numbers, local media polls suggest. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ­declared his official residence will not serve meat on Mondays. Circus animals, foie gras production and sow stalls have been banned, said Lyn White from ­Animals Australia.

In response to the claims in ­Israel about animal welfare standards on Australian ships, Australian Livestock Exporters Council chief executive Simon Westaway said: “Australia’s $2 billion livestock exporting sector encompasses a strict regulatory frame-work, supply-chain oversight and animal welfare standards, which set us apart from the other 100-plus livestock exporting nations in terms of accountability and transparency.”