A Orthodox Jewish man is seen in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. Photo: Reuters/Belga Photo Dirk Waem

Jewish leaders, senior European officials, and medical experts gathered in Brussels on Wednesday to warn against Belgium’s prosecution of Jewish circumcisers, arguing it could set a dangerous precedent for religious freedom and threaten the future of Jewish life across Europe.

Organized by the European Jewish Association (EJA), an emergency conference in Brussels brought together Jewish leaders, senior politicians, and medical experts to denounce Belgium’s prosecution of three local mohels, urging authorities to drop the case amid concerns over religious freedom.

A mohel is a trained practitioner who performs the ritual circumcision in Jewish tradition known as a bris.

Speaking at the conference, Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission’s Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life, condemned what she described as an attack on a core pillar of Jewish identity, stressing that ritual circumcision has been central to Jewish continuity and religious practice for thousands of years.

“Banning this ancient practice would in effect ban the possibility of Jewish life to flourish in any member state. We acknowledge the threats and difficult public discussion, and we do not underestimate its effect on European Jews,” the EU official said.

“We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that Jewish life can continue to flourish in Europe. In fact, Europe can only flourish when its Jewish communities flourish too,” Schnurbein continued.

From religious leaders representing Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities to senior EU officials and leading medical experts, speakers warned that the Belgian case could become a watershed moment for religious liberty, minority protections, and the ability of faith communities to preserve their traditions across Europe.

EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said the prosecution has raised fundamental questions about Europe’s commitment to safeguarding religious practices, warning that the outcome of the case could resonate far beyond Belgium’s borders.

“The question facing Belgium today is not what kind of Jews can live in Europe. The question is what kind of Europe Europe wants to be,” Margolin said. “This is not really a debate about circumcision. It is a debate about the limits of freedom in Europe.”

“The real question is whether democracies protect minority rights only when they are convenient, or whether they protect them when they are challenged. What happens in Belgium will be watched far beyond Belgium,” he continued. “For Jews, circumcision is not simply a medical procedure. It is one of the foundations of Jewish life and identity.”

According to physicians and scientists participating in the conference, decades of clinical data show no evidence that ritual circumcision performed by trained practitioners poses a greater risk to infants, with complication rates remaining lower than those reported in many hospital-based procedures.

Published research presented at the conference indicated that overall complication rates for ritual circumcision remain below 0.4 percent, with infections occurring in fewer than 0.06 percent of cases. Data from 2018 showed that out of more than 70,000 annual procedures, only 35 complications were reported.

Leaders and medical professionals are now calling for legal clarity, recognition of qualified religious practitioners, robust safety standards, and constructive dialogue with faith communities rather than the criminalization of longstanding religious traditions.

The conference came after Belgian prosecutors last month moved to indict three Jewish men for allegedly performing illegal circumcisions, amid a government probe into the Jewish ritual.

The Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office formally indicted three local mohels for “intentional assault or bodily harm with premeditation against minors, as well as the illegal practice of medicine.”

Prosecutors in the northern Belgian city announced they have concluded their investigation into suspected illegal circumcisions and found sufficient evidence to refer the case to criminal court.

The highly controversial case began a year ago when Belgian police raided the homes of several mohels in Antwerp, seizing their circumcision tools after a local anti-Zionist Jewish rabbi filed a complaint.

Among the homes raided by the Belgian police was that of Rabbi Aharon Eckstein, a highly experienced mohel and a prominent leader within the Antwerp Jewish community.

According to a police report, the searches were ordered by a judge following a complaint filed in 2023 by Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Friedman, an anti-Zionist activist previously accused of Holocaust denial, against Eckstein and other mohels within the community.

Since 2024, prosecutors have been investigating illegal circumcisions in the country amid concerns from local authorities that some Jewish circumcisions were being performed by individuals without proper medical training.

In his complaint, Friedman accused six mohels, whom he identified to the police, of endangering infants by performing the metzitzah b’peh ritual, in which the mohel uses his mouth to suction blood from the circumcision area.

However, Eckstein and other rabbis, along with parents of children circumcised by them, have denied such accusations, insisting that they do not perform this practice.

In Antwerp, Friedman is known for publicly criticizing several customs that are important to ultra-Orthodox Jews, who represent the majority of the city’s 18,000 Jewish residents.

Despite several attempts to ban it across Europe, ritual circumcision remains legal in all European countries – though many, including Belgium, limit the practice to licensed surgeons and often perform it in a synagogue.