On Monday, MK Miki Heimowitz of the Blue and White party, turned to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein with a request, that her seat in Knesset, which if lined with leather, be changed for one that is not. Her request was turned down.

Speaking to Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) on Tuesday morning, Knesset Director-General Albert Sacharovitz said, “We decided to refuse MK Mickey Heimowitz’s request to replace her seat in the plenum. In the previous Knesset there were also two Knesset members who submitted a similar request – Yael Cohen Paran and Shiran Haskell – and the leather seats are still in place.”

“Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein considered her request, but we decided to refuse it. In addition, the chairs in the Knesset plenum are lined with deer skin and not cow’s skin, as Heimowitz claimed.”

As noted, on Monday, April 29th, Heimowitz wrote a letter to the Knesset’s director general: “An investigation conducted in my office shows that the upholstery of Knesset chairs is made of cow leather. As is known, most of the skin used in the leather products industry is produced from animals used in other industries.”

“These animals undergo great suffering, and most of their lives are victims of violent treatment and neglect. For reasons of conscience, I do not make use of the skin in my life, “says Heimowitz.

“Just as it would not occur to me to order a car with the seats covered with animal skin, so is the thought that all my hours in the Knesset plenum will be intolerable,” she says.

“If there is a problem financing the change, I suggest that it be funded from my own money.” In the future, it may be appropriate to consider replacing all seats with non-animal skins.

Heimowitz ends her request and writes that if it is implemented, “the Knesset will be able to serve as an example of preventing exploitation and suffering of animals.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)