Perfidy In Iowa

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The militant vegetarian group Peoplefor the Ethical Treatment of Animals, betterknown by its acronym, PETA, has embarkedon a new public relations campaign attackingAgriProcessors Inc., the Postville, Iowa-based one of the world’s largest kosher meatprocessors, and the source for kosher meatproducts widely sold under the Rubashkinand Aaron’s Best labels. PETA accuses thecompany of violating both civil humaneslaughter laws and Halacha.PETA began by sending the meat processora letter a year and a half ago with unspeci

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ccomplaints about the company’s operatingprocedures. The company’s lawyer, NathanLewin, responded by offering to discuss and,if necessary,

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x any problem the group had.But Lewin told Binyamin L. Jolkovsky, of JewishWorldReview.com, that PETA neverresponded.Last week, Lewin, was contacted by theNew York Times seeking comment on anundercover videotape the paper received fromPETA, which it claimed documented abuses bythe kosher meat manufacturer. Lewin viewedthe tape at the New York Times’ Manhattanof

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ces, along with Rabbi Chaim Kohn, Chief Dayan of Khal Adath Yeshurun, which is one of the kashruth supervision agencies that providesthe Hashgocha on the meat plant. It was notclear when or if the Times plans to publish astory based on the PETA accusations and tape.Lewin told Jolkovsky that the videotape,which was supposedly shot at the meat packinghouse in August and September of this year,contains graphic and bloody pictures of thekosher slaughter process, in an attempt toshock the viewer, but no violations of eithercivil law or the rules of shechita.Lewin, who is acknowledged to be theforemost legal experts in church-state issues,contends that “all PETA wants to do is in

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amethe public against kosher slaughter.” Thegroup, he added, “just doesn’t understandshechita — what’s permitted under Jewish, andconsequently, American Law.”Lewin also suggested that PETA could itself be subject to legal action for its unwarrantedefforts to harass legitimate kosher meatoperations in this country.PETA is known for its aggressive tacticsin promoting its animal-rights agenda. Inone of its more tasteless campaigns, it ranadvertisements a few years ago with the phrase“Got prostate cancer?” showing RudolphGiuliani, the then-New York City mayor whohad been recently diagnosed with the disease.The ads also included the line: “Drinking milkcontributes to prostate cancer.”

AGUDATH ISRAELRESOLUTION CONDEMNSATTACK ON SHECHITA

PETA’s campaign against a prominent koshermeat manufacturer prompted the passage of aspecial resolution at the closing session of theAgudath Israel of America’s annual conventionin Stamford, Connecticut, at the behest of Chaim David Zwiebel, its executive vicepresident of government and public affairs. Byunanimous vote, Agudath Israel condemnedwhat it termed a “vicious and unethical attackon Jewish religious practice.” The resolutionalso noted that among the

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rst Nazi attacksagainst Jews was “peddling photographs of allegedly ‘cruel’ kosher slaughter,” and thatPETA “now follows in that vile course.”The resolution also declared that the Torah’sconcept of humane treatment of animals is wellahead of the standards promoted by secularorganizations such as PETA.“Shechitah often comes under attack byelements that are unsavory, and in generalPETA is not an organization that commandsour great respect,” said Rabbi Avi Shafran, aspokesman for Agudath Israel

PETA FILES A COMPLAINTWITH THE USDA

On Monday, PETA took the next step inits campaign against Agriprocessors, when it

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led a complaint with the US Department of Agriculture. alleging that the plant is violatingJewish law by not instantly killing the animals,and is therefore also violating the 1902 federalHumane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act.The complaint sought suspension of the plant’slicense and possible criminal proceedings.Steven Cohen, a spokesman for the USDA,con

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rmed that the agency had received thePETA letter but said it was waiting to reviewthe video before deciding how to handle thecomplaint.Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of theOrthodox Union’s OU Kashruth Division,which also provides supervision of koshermeat products from the same plant, said he haddiscussed the issue with USDA of

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cials, and iscon

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dent that government guidelines are beingfollowed to the federal agency’s satisfaction.The company also issued a statement saying,“Agripro-cessors does not control anythingthat happens in the kosher ritual processes. Weadhere strictly to the instructions given to usby the rabbinic authorities and will continueto do so. As we always have, we will alsocontinue to follow the strict guidelines set outby both federal and Jewish law for the humanetreatment of animals during the slaughterprocess.”Rabbi Genack even tried, unsuccessfully,to explain the OU- approved and supervisedshechita practices in use at the plant to AaronGross a Jewish student at Harvard Universitywho is a militant vegetarian group, and isPETA’s self-appointed expert on kosherrequirements. Gross denied that the PETAcampaign is motivated by anti-Semitism andclaimed that it does not object to shechita“when properly practiced.”Another PETA expert who criticized theOU-approved shechita procedures at theAgriprocessors plant was Temple Grandin,an associate professor of animal science atColorado State University, with no religiouscredentials at all.

Group CampaignsAgainst Kosher Meat

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Aspart of anationwidecrackdownon illegalimmigrants,federal authoritiesin league with state andlocal law enforcement mounted amassive raid this Monday on the world’slargest kosher meat-packing plant,AgriProcessors, in Postville, Iowa.Hundreds of of

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cers from Immigrationand Customs Enforcement (ICE), FBI andHomeland Security of

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cers, together withstate troopers and local police descendedon the 60-acre plant Monday morning.After cordoning it off on all sides,they conducted searches and interrogatedhundreds of workers, arresting almost 400.The plant employs well over 1,000people. In addition to shochtim andmashgichim, hundreds of workers fromMexico, Guatemala, Russia and Ukraineas well as many native Iowans, make alivelihood at AgriProcessors.In the raid, 314 men and 76 women-including any foreign workers who couldnot immediately produce evidence of theirlegal status -were arrested for immigrationviolations.Manyweredetained in local jails,while the majority were herded into busesand driven to a makeshift detention centerin the town of Waterloo, an hour and a half out of Postville.In public schools throughout Postville,ICE of

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cials halted classroom proceedingsto interrogate the students. “ ‘Who inthis room is legal?’” an of

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cer wouldask. “They separated all the kids with aLatino look, and took them to a room forinterrogation,” a Postville resident toldYated.Families were left in limbo, as husbands,wives and children searched worriedly forarrested family members.

COMPANY COOPERATEDWITH FEDS

Regulations at AgriProcessors requireall workers to show proof of residence,valid social security numbers, and legalpapers permitting them to work in theUnited States, a spokesman for thecompany told Yated.Yet, the federal af

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davit, whileacknowledging the plant’s regulations, saidthe raid was authorized after informationwas received that many of AgriProcessors’foreign workers were “illegals.”The search warrant cited suspicionsof “identify theft and fraudulent use of social security numbers, as well as reportsof multiple violations of immigrationlaws” that came from an “informant” atthe plant, Des Moines Register of Iowareported.According to the federal searchwarrant, authorities relied heavily onthis informant who in

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ltrated the plantwith documents provided by ICE. Theinformant was hired in January and woresecret recording devices monitored byICE, the Des Moines Register noted.The raid at Agri mimicked the dozens of raids carried out in recent months on

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rmswho employ foreign labor, in a nationwidefederal effort to curb illegal immigrationinto the United States, an AP article noted.It was the largest raid of its kind evercarried out in U.S. history.Company leaders cooperated fully withfederal authorities, halting operations andopening up the facilities for a thoroughsearch.By evening, the police had releaseddozens of people, either for “humanitarianreasons” or because the detaineeswere able to produce valid documents.Hundreds remain in detention, under threatof deportation.

AMAZING GROWTH

Agriprocessors Inc. opened in Postville,Iowa, nearly 20 years ago, under AaronRubashkin, bringing with it a promiseof jobs and stimulating a revival of theregion’s economy. Rubashkin and his twosons, R’ Shalom and R’ Heshy, built upthe company over the past two decades,turning it into the world’s largest koshermeat-packing plant.A small community comprised of shochtim and mashgichim and their familiesgrew up around the meat plant. Today they

Kosher Meat-Packing Plant Raided;Hundreds Arrested

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Aspart of anationwidecrackdownn illegalimmigrants,feeral authoritiesin league witlocal lManyweredetained inlocal jails,while the majority were herded into busesand driven to a makeshift detentionin the town of Watof