Israel’s President Shimon Peres has called on the Council of Europe to reconsider a resolution condemning male ritual circumcision.
In a letter to Thorbjorn Jagland, Norwegian secretary general of the Council of Europe — a pan-European intergovernmental organization — Peres wrote that he was “sorry to hear” of the resolution.
The resolution, which was passed overwhelmingly last week by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, calls male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children” and puts it in the same class as female genital mutilation.
The resolution calls on the 47 member states to “adopt specific legal provisions to ensure that certain operations and practices will not be carried out before a child is old enough to be consulted.”
Among the practices named are female genital mutilation, the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons, early childhood medical interventions in the case of intersexual children, corporal punishment and the submission to or coercion of children into piercings, tattoos or plastic surgery.
“The ritual of male circumcision has been practiced by Jewish communities for thousands of years and is a fundamental element of our tradition and obligation as Jews,” Peres wrote.
“The Jewish communities across Europe would be greatly afflicted to see their cultural and religious freedom impeded upon by the Council of Europe, an institution devoted to the protection of these very rights. I therefore urge the members of this distinguished assembly to reconsider this resolution.”
The resolution is non-binding. The Council of Europe is not part of the European Union institutions.
The ritual circumcision has come under incrasing attack in Scandinavia and German-speaking European countries.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also criticized the resolution, saying it “cast a moral stain” on the Council of Europe and that it “fosters hate and racist trends in Europe.”