Tel Aviv City Council Votes Unanimously for Horses and Donkeys

	Orna Banai at the demonstration Photo: Oren Ziv / Activestills

By Shlomit Tzur

LOCAL, 4 December 2006

Translated from Hebrew

Twenty demonstrators called for the city council to stop the abuse of horses and donkeys on the streets of Tel Aviv. The council approved unanimously Councilwoman Orna Banai's proposal that the laws against the abusers be enforced. New hope for the horses?

The charity "Hakol Chai" conducted a protest demonstration yesterday at the entrance to the Tel Aviv Council meeting, against the municipality's disregard of the continuous abuse of horses and donkeys in the city. The council members, who were discussing the issue at the time, heard the demonstrators' shouted demands that the horses and donkeys should not be abandoned, and that Councilwoman Orna Banai's related requests should be granted.

The demonstration was attended by 20 demonstrators who called for the mayor and the city council members to stop the abuse of horses and donkeys, who suffer at the hands of those who use them to transport loads, and who treat them as lifeless and emotionless tools.

"Hakol Chai" says that a large number of council members approached the demonstrators and identified with the goals of the demonstration. During the discussion itself, Councilwoman Orna Banai said that she received hundreds of appeals on the subject, including one from a group of tourists who, while driving on the Tel Aviv streets, were astounded to see a thin and injured horse forced to carry refrigerators and furniture while being beaten severely.

Banai submitted a motion according to which "the Tel Aviv–Jaffa Council will view abuse and cruelty towards animals…as opposing Jewish and human morality and the laws of the State. The Council therefore demands that all relevant parties – municipal supervision, veterinary services, and Israel Police – cooperate in a decisive and methodical manner against the criminals who abuse animals, in order to remove this inhuman phenomenon from among us."

The mayor said in the discussion that he has seen the demonstrators, and has heard their demands, and that he supports Banai's proposal. The City Council voted unanimously to accept the motion.

"Hakol Chai," which began the campaign against cart horses years ago, made it clear that it will follow the implementation of the proposal and will continue to do everything to uproot this cruel phenomenon from Tel Aviv-Jaffa and from any other place where it exists.