Responding to recent attacks in Europe on ritual circumcision, Jewish groups convened a special task force in Brussels to mount a “proactive defense” of the practice.
“The days of waiting around to firefight individual attacks on brit milah are over,” said Philip Carmel, European policy adviser for the European Jewish Congress.
Carmel was speaking at a gathering of 12 members of the special task force that convened in the Belgian capital on Oct. 30 in response to the Oct. 2 passage of a resolution at the Council of Europe calling male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children.”
The resolution followed a slew of motions and statements against circumcision in Scandinavia from across the political spectrum.
Carmel said the meeting was the first gathering of its caliber in defense of brit milah in Europe and included representatives from the European Jewish Congress, the Conference of European Rabbis, Milah U.K. and the Union of Mohalim in Europe. Also attending were representatives of the French, Dutch and Austrian Jewish communities. — jta