Animals petitioning to the Supreme Court sounds like a strange concept? Head of the Legal Department of the Hotam Torah Organization attorney Moshe Polsky argues that if an animal rights law by MK Eyal Ben-Reuven (Zionist Uamp) passes, such petitions won’t be far-fetched at all.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation discussed Sunday the proposed bill by MK Ben-Reuven which seeks to promote animals to independent status rights in the Basic Laws of Israel.

Hotam is firmly opposed to the law. They recently submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture a bill designed to enshrine in legislation the necessary balance between the use of animals and the need to ensure their welfare, according to Jewish values and Israeli law.

Mr. Polsky warns that Ben-Reuven’s bill is designed to blur the differences between humans and animals. “The initiators of the bill did a ‘copy and paste’ of the ‘Human Dignity and Liberty’ Basic Law and wish to give animals legal rights under Israeli law.”

“This bill would allow petitions to the Supreme Court to prohibit all use and killing of animals, including for medical or religious purpose,” said Polsky, who stressed that the current law already provides sufficient protection for animal welfare.

“We believe that the Israeli law and the Animal Protection Act already provide adequate protection for animals, while maintaining and balancing their well-being and even ordering prohibitions against harming them,” he added.

“This bill will permit animals themselves to go to court and be compared to humans. This stands in stark contrast to the position of Judaism that man is the crown of creation and was made to serve God, and animals were created to help him,” concluded Mr. Polsky.