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Israeli dog sentenced to death
19/06/2011 1:23 pm

A dog in Israel has been sentenced to death after being possessed by the soul of a dead lawyer.

Reports on the Israeli website Ynet claim that a stray dog that wandered into a courthouse faces death by stoning. A Jewish rabbinical court made the proclamation on the basis that they fear it may be the reincarnation of a lawyer who insulted them.

A large dog entered the Jerusalem financial court mear the ultra-Orthadox neighbourhood of Mea Shearim several weeks ago and would not leave.

The incident reminded a judge of a curse passed on a now deceased secular lawyer about 20 years ago who had insulted the judging panel. In response to the insult, the judges had wished that his spirit would enter the body of a dog (seen as an impure animal in traditional Judaism).

The whereabouts of the animal is not known as is said to have escaped before the sentence could be carried out.

One of the judges had reportedly asked local children to subsequently carry out the stoning on the court's behalf.

According to Ynet, an animal welfare organisation filed a complaint with the police.

But a court manager told Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot the stoning had been ordered by the rabbis "because of the grief he had caused the court.

"They didn't issue an official ruling, but ordered the children outside to throw stones at him in order to drive him away.

"They didn't think of it as cruelty to animals, but as an appropriate way to 'get back at' the spirit which entered the poor dog," the official said.

Israeli’s newspaper Maariv reported that a stray dog has wandered into a Beth Din financial court in the strictly Orthodox area of Mea Shearim and refused to be moved, which a judge decreed was a reincarnation of a secular lawyer who died 20 years ago.

Reports said the judges then "decreed" that local children stone the dog to death. But the secretariat of the court released a statement calling the reports “bitter humour” and said all that had happened was that the city dog catcher had been called to remove the stray.

The story made headlines around the world, and was the “Most Read” story on the BBC – despite a correction and apology being printed in Maariv.

[wow!: comment inserted by poster]

The only action we took was to dial the number of the Jerusalem Municipality to get the people in charge to take it away.

“There was no talk of reincarnation, a lawyer has never been mentioned, either now or 20 years ago, and there was no stoning

The story, when circulated on Yahoo, attracted more than 1,800 comments, most expressing violent anger. One wrote “the more I see of Israelis, the more I like my dog.”

desertdudeshj wrote:Damage Control Inc

kanelli wrote:It seems the story is a lie. Gotta love the media and their attempts to manipulate and generate ridiculous headlines for readership.