Netanyahu says she will speak to her friend Lucy Turnbull after whistleblower footage reveals mass sheep deaths

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Sara Netanyahu has criticised the Australian live export trade, saying she was “appalled” by conditions on board and would speak to Lucy Turnbull about it.

The Israeli prime minster’s wife’s comments concern whistleblower footage of sheep being transported from Western Australia to the Middle East and North Africa during the northern hemisphere summer, including one voyage in August where heat stress caused the death of 2,400 sheep, or 3.76% of all sheep on board.

Live exports: mass animal deaths going unpunished as holes in system revealed Read more

In a video posted to Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Facebook page, Sara Netanyahu said she was “appalled to see the awful conditions in which animals are transported to Israel”.

“It really breaks my heart,” she said. “I turned to the PM, my husband, who will do all he can to stop this tremendous cruelty. I also addressed the minister of agriculture, Uri Ariel, and I have no doubt he will do all he can.”

Sara Netanyahu also said she would also raise her concerns with the Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s wife, Lucy, who she described as a friend.



“We cannot as a community accept this,” she said. “We owe to the animals the minimal acceptable conditions.”

Israel imported 118,377 Australian sheep in 2016.

The live export ship featured in the footage, the Awassi Express, was scheduled to leave Fremantle port with another 55,000 sheep on board on Monday provided it complied with special conditions imposed by the Department of Agriculture. It has been stalled by inspections by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

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Another live export ship, the Maysora, left Fremantle for Turkey with 75,000 sheep, loaded in Adelaide, and 8,000 cattle on Wednesday night.

On Monday, the Australian agriculture minister, David Littleproud, ordered a review into the culture of his department and promised to establish a whistleblower hotline.

He later ordered a “short, sharp” review into the potential management of heat stress of live export ships headed to the Middle East between June and October. That is when most of the mass mortality events in the past 10 years have occurred.

Turnbull’s office has been contacted for comment.

• This article was amended on 3 March 2020. An earlier version had referred to Sara Netanyahu as the ‘first lady’. Israel’s first lady is the wife of the president, not of the prime minister.