Horse Racing is Planned to Begin in Israel during Succoth, 2006

Press Release

October 8, 2006, Tel Aviv

Hakol Chai, an Israeli animal rights organization with global philanthropic support, is organizing a major demonstration near the Hippodrome racecourse in the Gilboa region, where the opening ceremony of this event is planned for Wednesday, October 11, 2006. Hakol Chai's protest is against this initiative, which uses innocent horses solely for the purposes of entertainment and profit making. The suffering of the horses is inevitable in racing.

This event in the Gilboa is considered to be a giant step "forward" to legalizing gambling on horse racing in Israel. This initiative has the support of the Israeli government, which resolved to permit constructing racecourses in Israel as of 2004.

Hakol Chai has been in the forefront of the long struggle against legalizing gambling on horse racing in Israel. The organization has adopted many strategies, including petitioning the Supreme Court. Recently, this struggle received most welcome support from the Chief Rabbinate, which published a Halachic (based on religious doctrine) resolution citing Jewish Halacha, which prohibits conducting or watching horse racing.

Experts from countries with a long history of horse racing have already reached the conclusion that this so called "sport" is inherently abusive. Unfortunately, Israel hasn’t benefited from the global experience.

An important article dealing with this issue was published recently in The Guardian:

(http://sport.guardian.co.uk/horseracing/theobserver/story/0,,1885006,00.html)

Our fervent hope is that this demonstration will set the stage for speaking out on behalf of these animals, and that it will inform the public about the overriding personal interests of the stakeholders involved in this cruel sport.

Hakol Chai is affiliated with the U.S.-based charitable organization CHAI (Concern for Helping Animals in Israel).

For more information, please contact: Tali Lavie, 972-3-6243242, 972-54-77099866