Who enforces the Kosher Fraud Law? About three months ago, it was widely reported in the media that the Kosher Fraud Prevention Law Unit, in cooperation with the Enforcement and Investigations Unit (ISU) of the Ministry of Agriculture, raided a container containing game meat illegally imported from Australia and found in a butcher shop in Ashdod.
The seizure of the container caused a great uproar in the city, and the local rabbinate did not content itself with removing the kashrut, but issued a notice to city residents who purchased meat from that butcher shop, stating that they must make the dishes kashrut.
But talk is one thing, actions are another.
In a question submitted by MK David Azoulay to the Minister of Public Security, MK Azoulay asked the minister: Was a complaint filed with the police and did the police recommend filing indictments against the owner of the butcher shop?
Public Security Minister MK Yitzhak Aharonovitz responded: "A clarification with the Southern District investigation officials indicates that no complaint was filed with the police and no investigation was opened regarding this incident.".
An investigation conducted by MK David Azoulay revealed that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's Kosher Fraud Department did not file a complaint with the police, but imposed a fine on the owners of the butcher shop. The law allows the unit's inspectors to impose an administrative fine on a business owner found not to be operating in accordance with the law.
Following the Minister of Public Security's response and after a conversation with the Kosher Fraud Department at the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, MK Azoulay said that he would work to add the obligation of criminal reporting to the Kosher Fraud Law.
Azoulay said: "The Chief Rabbinate of Israel imposes the fines, but the filing of the criminal complaint falls between the chairs. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel believes that the obligation to file the complaint falls on the local rabbinate. And those who believe that the obligation applies to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, we will work to regulate the matter by law.".
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