RABAT: King Mohammed VI of Morocco asked Moroccans on Wednesday to abstain from performing the rite of slaughtering sheep on Eid Al-Adha this year due to a drop in the country’s herd following years of drought.
Eid Al-Adha, to take place in June, commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son on God’s command. Muslims mark the event by slaughtering sheep or goats. The meat is shared among family and donated to the poor.
Morocco’s cattle and sheep herds have decreased by 38 percent in 2025 since the last census nine years ago due to consecutive droughts, according to official figures.
“Our commitment to enabling you to fulfill this religious rite under the best conditions is accompanied by the duty to consider the climatic and economic challenges facing our country, which have led to a significant decline in livestock numbers,” the King said in a letter read on his behalf by religious affairs minister Ahmed Taoufiq on state TV Al Oula.
Performing the rite “under these difficult circumstances will cause significant harm to large segments of our people, especially those with limited income,” said the King, Morocco’s supreme religious leader.
Rainfall was 53 percent lower this year than the average of the last 30 years, causing a lack of pasture for livestock to feed on. Meat production has dropped, leading to higher prices in the local market and higher imports of live cattle, sheep and red meat.
The country has recently signed a deal to import up to 100,000 sheep from Australia.
In its 2025 budget, Morocco suspended import duties and a value-added tax on cattle, sheep, camels and red meat to keep prices stable in the domestic market.
Drought-hit Morocco asks citizens not to slaughter sheep on Eid Al-Adha
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Drought-hit Morocco asks citizens not to slaughter sheep on Eid Al-Adha
- Performing the rite “under these difficult circumstances will cause significant harm to large segments of our people, especially those with limited income,” said the King
Israeli FM urges Jews to move to Israel a week after Sydney attack
- “Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Sunday for Jews in Western countries to move to Israel to escape rising antisemitism, one week after 15 were shot dead at a Jewish event in Sydney.
“Jews have the right to live in safety everywhere. But we see and fully understand what is happening, and we have a certain historical experience. Today, Jews are being hunted across the world,” Saar said at a public candle lighting marking the last day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
“Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said at the ceremony, held with leaders of Jewish communities and organizations worldwide.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli leaders have repeatedly denounced a surge in antisemitism in Western countries and accused their governments of failing to curb it.
Australian authorities have said the December 14 attack on a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach was inspired by the ideology of the Islamic State jihadist group.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Western governments to better protect their Jewish citizens.
“I demand that Western governments do what is necessary to fight antisemitism and provide the required safety and security for Jewish communities worldwide,” Netanyahu said in a video address.
In October, Saar accused British authorities of failing to take action to curb a “toxic wave of antisemitism” following an attack outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, in which two people were killed and four wounded.
According to Israel’s 1950 “Law of Return,” any Jewish person in the world is entitled to settle in Israel (a process known in Hebrew as aliyah, or “ascent“) and acquire Israeli citizenship. The law also applies to individuals who have at least one Jewish grandparent.zz
