This Israeli politician wants to deport stray cats to a foreign country

Israel's Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel has a plan for the country's feral cat problem: mass deportation.

Ariel, who is a member of the far-right Jewish Home party, drew ridicule from opposition politicians after his proposal to "transfer dogs and cats of a single gender... to a foreign country that is willing to accept them" was leaked by Israeli media.

Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni tweeted a photo of her cat, wryly commenting that her pet would not be applying for a foreign passport. Meanwhile, Zehava Gal-On, chairperson of the left-wing party Meretz, suggested on Facebook that "it is time to look for a foreign country that would agree to absorb [Ariel]."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The ministry's current efforts to contain the stray animal population involve spaying and neutering, a method that Ariel opposes on the grounds that it violates Jewish law. The ministry said in a statement that Ariel's proposal had been considered and rejected.