Belgian MP to submit legislation to protect circumcision
‘Brit milah is under attack in Belgium,’ says Michael Freilich
By JEREMY SHARONBelgian MP Michael Freilich meets with Chief Rabbi David Lau and other Chief Rabbinate officials on Monday to discuss efforts to head off challenges to circumcision in Belgium(photo credit: CHIEF RABBINATE)
Belgian MP Michael Freilich intends to submit legislation to parliament that would protect religious circumcision in the country, following concerns that efforts to enact certain restrictions may be advanced.MP Goedele Liekens of the liberal democratic OpenVLD Party submitted draft legislation earlier this month to end the policy of refunding fees for circumcisions performed in hospitals.Many Muslim citizens in Belgian have their sons circumcised in accordance with Islamic law. Unlike the Jewish population, they have the procedure done in a hospital.The cost of these procedures has until now been refunded by the federal government. But politicians on both the Right and Left want to stop this financial support.Although such a measure would not affect Jewish religious circumcision, Freilich, who is Jewish, is concerned about rhetoric from those advocating the abolition of the subsidy. They have Jewish circumcision in their sights, he said.Freilich cited comments by Liekens earlier this month, when she tweeted about her hope that the practice of so-called female circumcision, often referred to as female genital mutilation, will soon be eradicated.Liekens was then challenged by another Twitter user, who said she should tackle male circumcision as well.In response, Liekens said she agreed with his sentiment and that “one first step in the right direction was taken yesterday by my bill on non-medically necessary circumcision.”Freilich told The Jerusalem Post he is concerned Liekens’s bill will seek to impose some restrictions on how circumcision is performed in Belgium.In addition, Freilich says that a member of his own New Flemish Alliance party was in the process of preparing similar legislation to that of Liekens but which also included negative language about religious circumcision.
When Freilich objected to that draft document, his party authorized him to reformulate the bill.Freilich has now drafted his own legislation which also revokes the state financial support for religious circumcision performed in hospitals but includes language protecting the practice of circumcision as it has been performed until now.“Brit milah is under attack in Belgium,” he said, citing an op-ed by a Free University of Brussels professor of family medicine published on Monday, which called for a ban on circumcision for children, and an interview published on Saturday with an anti-circumcision activist who described circumcision as “child abuse.”“With religious traditions under threat, I see it as my duty to undertake action in the Belgian parliament,” Freilich said. “We have no problem with the repayment being stopped. This is also the case in our neighboring countries. But disparaging brit milah as a backward tradition and exclaiming that this is just a ‘first step’ toward a total ban is something the Jewish community and myself will never accept.”He said his bill stipulates that remuneration for circumcision costs will only be allowed for the purposes of medical necessity, but it makes clear that there should be no “restriction or ban” on the practice.Freilich met with Chief Rabbi David Lau on Monday to discuss the issue and said he would meet with health officials in Israel to “learn from Israel the best practices and medical and hygienic standards” for circumcision.Lau thanked Freilich for his efforts on the issue and said: “We will do everything we can so that no religious commandment of the Torah will be banned in any country, whether it is brit milah, religious slaughter or Jewish burial.”
