News From Israel

Vegetarian to Become Prime Minister?
Yesterday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won the Kadima Party's primary, which means it's likely she'll soon become prime minister. Livni is "a strict vegetarian out of concern for animal rights," the Washington Post noted today. On his blog Checkpoint Jerusalem, vegetarian Dion Nissenbaum wrote a post titled "Vegetarian Set to Lead Israel." On Sunday, a senior correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times quipped that "we don't know how Livni and Sarah 'moose stew' Palin will get along. Livni reportedly is a vegetarian." (Click here to read my recent post about Palin's moose-hunting, among other things.)

Spay/Neuter Campaign
On Monday, Israeli Minister of Agriculture Shalom Simhon and Minister of Environmental Protection Gideon Ezra launched a national campaign (for the second straight year) to promote spaying and neutering. "Spaying and neutering are the right and humane way to stop the vicious cycle of hundreds of thousands of births - and hundreds of thousands of deaths," said the two ministers. Read more on the Ministry of Environmental Protection's Web site.

Identifying Dog Feces With DNA
Petah Tikva (a suburb of Tel Aviv) has launched a program to identify dog feces through DNA testing in an effort to reward and punish dogs' guardians. As a post on Israellycool put it, "While Hamas fights the Doghmush clan, Israel begins its fight against dog mush."

Petition Against the Weizmann Institute
A few times in the last month, I've received an online petition calling for an end to animal experiments at Israel's Weizmann Institute. Click here to see the petition.