What happened to the animals in Israel before Zionism

Water buffalo were wiped out, fruit bats exterminated and black goats almost eradicated; the stories of these animals are now being told at the Venice Biennale

“THIS IS A FESTIVE DAY for the black goats,” declared MK Jamal Zahalka (Joint List) in a short speech he delivered in the Knesset on May 7, 2018. “At last, equality for goats,” he continued, unable to suppress a smile. “The black goat is ‘kosher,’ and can be bred without restrictions, just like the white goat. The Black Goat Law is revoked.”

Zahalka’s self-amused speech marked a happy end to one of the sorriest episodes in the history of animals in the early days of the Zionist era in this country. The black goat was the protagonist of the Israeli parliament’s first environmental legislation – or at least so it was perceived in 1950.

It was held to be responsible for widespread devegetation and desertification. According to the British, and also to the Jews who followed them, the goat had prevented the country from becoming a land of green meadows and lush forests.

But the goats have now rebounded to success: Along with other local fauna – some persecuted, others very popular – they feature in the Israeli pavilion in the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture, which opened May 22.

FULL STORY What the Land of Israel looked like before Zionism (Haaretz)

Photo: Water buffalo cooling off in Lake Hula, in the 1920s (Yaakov Ben Dov/KKL)