Local immigration police raided a slaughterhouse in the Mirigama area of Sri Lanka on Monday and arrested five shochtim and Rabbanim who were carrying out shechita for the local Jewish community, Kikar H’Shabbat reported.
The Rabbanim, from Israel, Australia, and Italy, arrived in the area in recent weeks to help the kehilla perform shechita.
According to the police, they were charged with the violation of immigration laws by performing work and religious activity while in the country on a visitor visa only. After their arrest, they were deported from the country.
The Jewish kehilla in the island country, which numbers several hundred people, was shocked by the arrests. Sources in the kehilla said that the arrests were the result of malicious betrayal by an individual who harasses the community at every opportunity and involves the government in order to persecute the Jewish community.
The sources said that the campaign includes attempts to close one of the Jewish community centers in the country and the use of all existing laws to restrict Jewish activity and prevent the growth of the community.
Community officials fear that the arrests are a dangerous precedent that could deter Rabbanim, shochtim, and other senior public figures from coming to Sri Lanka and assisting the kehilla.
In their statements, they called on international Jewish organizations to intervene and put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop what they call a “systematic policy of persecution.”
2 comments:
The arrests are in solidarity with Mamzerdani. After all, Sri Lanka, which is 10% Muslim, calls itself the Socialist Democrat Republic
Okay, so this is where Israel steps in and offers every Sri Lankan Jews a plane ticket home. If they take it, great. If they don't, they can't kvetch.
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