Conference of European Rabbis (CER) revealed that Jews not welcome in Iceland, especially after practising of circumcision ban in the country, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
European rabbis, president of the European Jewish Congress, and Belgian chief Rabbi Avraham Gigi explained at the Brussels conference the significance and historical and religious background of circumcision, saying it “occupied a central and critical place in culture, religion and Jewish identity.” He added that questioning the freedom of Jewish families to circumcise their children means undermining the most ingrained identity in their collective memory.” According to Belgian chief rabbi, when Iceland forbids circumcision, it is publicly declaring that no Jewish community is welcome.
At the end of the Conference of European Rabbis, a communiqué was issued, that document is calling on the Icelandic government and members of the country’s parliament to immediately halt the proposal, which they claim violated the right of the child to belong to his family’s religious tradition.
In February, Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir, the Icelandic parliamentarian who proposed the circumcision ban, explained her intentions saying that “the individual right of the child to choose is taken away. Those procedures like circumcision are unnecessary, done without their informed consent, non-reversible and can cause all kinds of severe complications, disfigurations, and even death.
‘Thankfully, many do not have any complications, but some do and one is too many if the procedure is unnecessary,’
Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir added.
Criticising Iceland’s move, president of the European Jewish Congress told The Algemeiner,
“The European Jewish Congress has always fought against any ban which infringes on the right to religious freedom. We have always said that an attempt to ban a basic Jewish practice is a crude way of saying that Jews and their traditions are not welcome and this is absolutely unacceptable,”
Dr Moshe Kantor said.
