Pork with a hechsher

Mako is reporting that the government has changed its policy, a policy in effect since 1992, regarding importing of non-kosher meats, including pork products.

In 1992 then-Prime Minister elect Yitzchak Rabin was forming a government and in an effort to persuade Shas to join his coalition he agreed to a condition to pass a law banning the import of non-kosher meat to Israel. The agreement did allow certain exceptions - certain pieces of meats and sausages, to be excluded from the ban and that could be imported.

This ban, with the exceptions, has been in effect since 1992 until today, with hundreds of tons of pork pieces being imported annually - under the more recent authority of Aryeh Deri the amount imported dropped drastically, but plenty was still imported.

The holding government has now issued a new directive, changing the policy in place from 1992. As of now, all pork pieces and fats will require a teudat kashrut in order to be imported. Without a teudat kashrut, meat and meat products cannot be imported - including all those items that were listed as exceptions until now. The new directive means no non-kosher meat can be imported to Israel.

I find it a little funny that the way the ban for formulated is not a law against importing pork and other non-kosher meats but the insistence that all imported meats, including pork, must have a teudat kashrut, effectively but only indirectly banning pork from being imported.

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