The public prosecutor\u2019s office wants the two mohels \u2013 Jewish circumcisers \u2013 to appear in court on charges of intentional assault and battery with malice aforethought against minors and the unlawful practice of medicine.<\/p>\n
A mohel is a specially trained Jewish circumciser who performs the \u2018Brit Milah\u2019, the ritual circumcision within the Jewish faith, on newborn boys on the eighth day after birth.<\/p>\n
Performing male circumcision for non-medical reasons is not prohibited in Belgium, but it must be carried out with the involvement of a doctor.<\/p>\n
The investigation was launched following, among other things, a complaint from members of the Jewish community, and last year a number of searches were carried out in the Jewish neighbourhood of Antwerp. At the time, investigators seized items including knives and requested lists of children who had recently been circumcised.<\/p>\n
Judges still have to decide whether the case will actually go to trial. That will take place on 18 June. In the meantime, the parties involved will be given access to the case file.<\/p>\n
The case caused quite a stir earlier this year, when the US ambassador, Bill White, unusually for an accredited diplomat, lashed out at his host country. At the time he spoke of \u201can anti-Semitic investigation\u201d. From a diplomatic perspective, the case is a sensitive one.<\/p>\n
US ambassador writes: \u201cThis is a shameful stain on Belgium\u201d<\/p>\n
In a post on X, Ambassador Bill White writes that the prosecution of the mohels is \u201cwrong\u201d and \u201cwon\u2019t be tolerated\u201d. According to him, one of the suspects is an American citizen.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelgium will be thought of now as anti-Semitic by world. Until this is resolved there is no way around it. The Trump administration condemns this judicial action and condemns the political inaction by the Belgian government to find a solution with the wonderful Jewish communities in Belgium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar echoed this sentiment. \u2018This is a scarlet letter on Belgian society. The Brith Mila (circumcision) is the cornerstone of the Jewish faith. (…) I call upon the Belgian government to act immediately and to find a solution.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The public prosecutor\u2019s office wants the two mohels \u2013 Jewish circumcisers \u2013 to appear in court on charges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7],"class_list":{"0":"post-14330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-belgium"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116527584138807222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}