The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland told the Conference of European Rabbis in Berlin that his oganization will not pursue measures to ban religious circumcision despite the vote last month by the body’s parliamentary assembly of a report which criticised the practice.
“I would like to make one thing unequivocally clear to you right here and right now: in no way does the Council of Europe want to ban the practice of male circumcision. Female genital mutilation violates human rights. Male circumcision does not. That is my position. That is the position of the Council of Europe,” he declared at the conference of 200 rabbis titled “Is there a future for Jews in Europe?”.
He described the importance of protecting the Jewish practice as a “moral imperative”.
“This announcement is extremely significant and should send the strongest possible message to the Jewish communities of Europe that this fundamental cornerstone of our faith will not become a tool for an increasingly aggressive secularist lobby to berate religious practice,” said Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the CER and Chief Rabbi of Moscow.
The announcement followed an international outcry over the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s vote in Strasbourg approving a resolution calling for a ban on “certain operations and practices… before a child is old enough to be consulted,” with a majority of 78 in favour, 13 opposed and 15 abstentions.
Referring to this non-binding anti-circumcision resolution Jagland said no European Union member country had actually banned the practice. “We have an obligation to protect it” on behalf of freedom of religion, he added.
But the resolution reignited the assault on Jewish life in Europe.
In recent years, ritual circumcision of boys and ritual slaughter of animals have come under attack on the continent.
In Norway, the Children Ombudswoman recently called to ban non-medical circumcision, calling it ‘’a violation of human rights.’’ The same in Sweden.
Last year in Germany a court in Cologne ruled ritual circumcision amounted to grievous bodily harm. The case was sparked by the death of a Muslim boy due a botched circumcision and set a precedent for nation-wide ban. The case led to outrage and protests in Jewish communities around the world.
Germany’s government later passed a bill in the Bundestag, the federal parliament, to protect and legalise male circumcision by authorised trained practitioners. The initiative was led by Chancellor Angela Merkel who warned a circumcision ban could turn Germany into a laughing stock as the only country to ban the Jewish ritual.
Kosher slaughter has also come under attack in Europe. In Poland, the practice of rituaml slaughter was halted last year affter the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that killing livestock without first stunning the animal violated the country’s laws forcing Halal and kosher producers to stop operation.
With anti-Semitism growing in some parts of Europe and as attacks against Jewish practices and religious freedom continue, some Jews are wondering how long they will be able to call Europe their home.
Responding to the question about whether there is a future for Jews in Europe, he went on to say, “My personal answer to this question is a strong unequivocal “yes.”
‘’But for me, that is not enough. It is not enough to ensure a future for Jews in Europe we must also ensure a future for Jewish life in Europe,” he added.