Israel’s fur ban ‘leaves a lot to be desired’, Palestinian activist tells PETA

Image: Jelani Photography / Shutterstock.com

Mohsina Dodhiya15th June 202115th June 2021News, Vegan Activism

“It is irresponsible for PETA to applaud any action by the Israeli government, considering Israel’s brutal legacy of violence towards Palestine’s environment and the animals it sustains.”

After PETA lauded the Israeli government for becoming the first country to ban the sale of fur, a Palestinian scholar and activist has called out the nation and the animal rights organization’s double standards.

Zarefah Baroud, who has a Master’s degree in Policy Studies from the University of Washington, said the praise is ‘completely misplaced’ when one takes into account Israel’s gross ethics towards Palestinian animals and citizens in these past years.

In her article entitled: Dear PETA, Israel’s animal rights record leaves a lot to be desired, Baroud has chronicled several deliberate and planned violations by Israeli militants against innocent beings living in the GAZA strip – both animals and humans.

She noted that Israel’s defence ministry has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in one of the world’s most enduring hostilities and “the lack of humanity and concern for Palestinian life has always been extended to include the local environment, livestock, and crops”.

Callous campaigns

She also pointed out PETA’s callous campaigns that failed to call out Israel for its inhumane approaches against Palestinian lives.

After a 2008-2009 conflict, in which Israel’s military offensive killed hundreds of Palestinians, as well as many animals, particularly those sheltered at the Gaza Zoo, the organisation appealed to the Israeli Defence Ministry to install a “pro-vegetarian mural” on both sides of Israel’s apartheid wall and barriers in the West Bank and Gaza with phrases that read “Give Peas a Chance” and “Nonviolence Begins on Your Plate: Go Vegetarian”.

Baroud wrote: “PETA has made it perfectly clear through statements such as these that, like the lives of the people of Palestine, the lives of Palestinian animals are not worthy of mention.”

‘Diminishes their credibility’

PETA’s indifference to Palestinian lives is disconcerting since this has not been an isolated incident of Israel aggressive stance against Palestine’s people, animals, and wildlife habitats.

“At the very least, it is irresponsible for PETA to applaud any action by the Israeli government, considering Israel’s brutal legacy of violence towards Palestine’s environment and the animals it sustains,” Baroud concluded.

“The activists within the organisation would be better off campaigning for animal rights in the territory occupied and controlled by the colonial state. Anything less diminishes their credibility.”