Pilbara and Kimberley pastoralists face the potential loss of a key live export market, as Israel last week moved a step closer to shutting its borders to Australian and European cattle and sheep.
The Times of Israel news service reported last Tuesday the Knesset, the legislative branch of Government, had given the green light to a Bill to stop livestock imports to the country from Australia and Europe.
It said the Bill, understood to have been drafted with local animal rights groups, was introduced by an Israeli ministerial committee in July this year. At the same time, 228 lawyers in Israel signed a petition for live shipments to cease, saying the trade contravened legislation on animal rights.
The Israeli Bill calls for a gradual phase-out of livestock imports by 2021, including a 2019 quota that will not exceed 75 per cent of the number of animals imported in 2017 and then a 25 per cent reduction in subsequent years.
The Bill last week unanimously passed the next step of its preliminary reading, though it is understood this was achieved with less than half of eligible voters in attendance.
It will now proceed to a committee in preparation for its first reading in the Knesset and, if passed, Israel would move entirely to importing chilled meat.
Read the article by Melissa Williams in Countryman in The West Australian.