{"id":14492,"date":"2026-05-07T09:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/14492\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:33:08","slug":"charges-against-ultra-orthodox-rabbis-in-belgium-escalate-anti-semitism-row-with-us-and-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/14492\/","title":{"rendered":"Charges against ultra-orthodox rabbis in Belgium escalate anti-Semitism row with US and Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

An anti-Semitism row between Belgium and Israel<\/a> has escalated after authorities charged ultra-orthodox rabbis with conducting unsafe circumcisions on toddlers in the city of Antwerp. The US has backed the Israelis in the matter.<\/p>\n

The ritual is thousands of years old but is considered unsafe by Belgian standards, which require a doctor to perform the procedure. <\/p>\n

The diplomatic spat first erupted in February but escalated this week when Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar<\/a> reacted to the announcement of the indictment of the three rabbis on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a scarlet letter on Belgian society,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cWith this act Belgium joins a short and shameful list, together with Ireland, of countries that use criminal law to prosecute Jews for practising Judaism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Saar urged Belgian authorities<\/a> to emulate European countries that have created specific legal frameworks for the ritual. <\/p>\n

US ambassador Bill White described the prosecution of the rabbis as a \u201cshameful stain on Belgium\u201d. He called on the Belgian government to \u201cfind a certification solution immediately\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cBelgium will be thought of now as anti-Semitic by the world. Until this is resolved \u2013 there is no way around it,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

He also condemned the \u201cpolitical inaction\u201d by the Belgium government to work with \u201cbeautiful Jewish communities\u201d.<\/p>\n

This led to Prime Minister Bart de Wever saying that Belgian health standards must be respected by all. <\/p>\n

\u201cCircumcision is essential for the Jewish faith and Islam, but so are the quality standards of our legislation. You have to reconcile the two. What you shouldn\u2019t do is create a whole societal controversy around it with harsh statements about anti-Semitism. That contributes nothing at all,\u201d Mr de Wever told Belgian broadcaster VRT. \u201cLegislation obviously stands above any religion and above any world view or ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Antwerp Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office was reported by news website Euractiv as seeking trial for two men, not three, as claimed by Mr Saar. They are accused of \u201cintentional assault or battery with premeditation against minors\u201d for performing circumcision without a medical licence. It will be decided next month whether the men will be sent to trial. <\/p>\n

They were initially investigated after a complaint by a member of the Jewish community in Antwerp<\/a>. News website The Jerusalem Post reported that he had filed a police complaint against six mohels \u2013 rabbis trained in circumcision \u2013 who practise an ultra-orthodox version of circumcision. Belgium prosecutors have alleged this amounts to an aggravated assault on minors.<\/p>\n

Responding to Mr Saar, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the accusations of anti-Semitism were \u201cdefamatory\u201d and that the judiciary was independent from political influence. <\/p>\n

Replying to Mr White on social media, Mr Prevot said: \u201cI urge you to exercise greater restraint and to view your role in its proper context. It is inappropriate to publicly criticise a country and tarnish its image simply because you disagree with judicial proceedings. I have already told you this. Would you consider it acceptable for our ambassador in Washington to do the same?\u201d <\/p>\n

Germany in 2012 passed a law that ritual circumcision was legal after a court deemed it constituted bodily harm. Norway allows it but only in the presence of a medical doctor. Both are among a handful of countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An anti-Semitism row between Belgium and Israel has escalated after authorities charged ultra-orthodox rabbis with conducting unsafe circumcisions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,2178,1730,2179],"class_list":{"0":"post-14492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-belgium","9":"tag-standard","10":"tag-story","11":"tag-uk-bureau"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116532609334736932","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492","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=14492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}