{"id":103084,"date":"2026-09-08T16:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T23:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=103084"},"modified":"2026-09-08T07:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T14:30:19","slug":"european-union-wages-war-on-circumcision-covenant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/doctrine\/european-union-wages-war-on-circumcision-covenant\/","title":{"rendered":"European Union wages war on circumcision covenant? Is male circumcision healthy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nCircumcision being performed<\/em><\/p>\n

COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

Israel365<\/em> News posted the following:<\/p>\n

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Belgium wages war on circumcision covenant: EU commissioner says Jews must live their faith openly<\/h2>\n

September 8, 2026<\/p>\n

European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi told a room of rabbis in Brussels this week that Europe cannot claim to welcome Jewish communities while making Jewish life impossible to practice. Speaking at a Rosh Hashanah gathering organized by the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), the Hungarian commissioner delivered a blunt message to his own institution: \u201cEurope cannot say that Jewish life belongs here, while making it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to live a full Jewish life here.\u201d His words landed in the middle of a legal crisis that has put the ritual of\u00a0brit milah<\/em>, circumcision, on trial in a European Union member state for the first time in the bloc\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Has its roots in the fourth book of the Bible\u2019s first covenant. God commanded Abraham: \u201cAnd ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you\u201d (Genesis 17:11). …<\/p>\n

Belgian prosecutors in Antwerp indicted three men this year for allegedly violating a law requiring surgical procedures to be performed only by licensed physicians. The men are\u00a0mohalim<\/em>, ritual circumcisers trained for years in Jewish law and practical technique, not surgeons. Belgian police had already raided the mohalim\u2019s homes in 2025. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar called the prosecution a \u201cscarlet letter on Belgian society,\u201d placing Belgium alongside Ireland on what he described as a shameful list of nations criminalizing Jewish religious practice. U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White went further, warning that Belgium \u201cwill be thought of now as antisemitic by the world\u201d until the case is resolved. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Pr\u00e9vot defended the prosecution and claimed Jewish community representatives supported it, a claim Jewish organizations dispute.<\/p>\n

The case is part of a disturbing trend of legislation targeting Jewish rituals. Two of Belgium\u2019s three regions, Wallonia and Flanders, have already banned\u00a0shechitah<\/em>, the kosher slaughter of animals, a restriction shared by several other EU states. The precedent of this being anti-Jewish legislation was established when Nazi Germany banned shechitah in 1933, within weeks of Hitler taking power, and folded the ban into the 1935 Nuremberg Laws. Critics of Belgium\u2019s current prosecution point to this history deliberately: a state that begins by regulating how Jews slaughter their meat and circumcise their sons has historically been a state moving toward regulating whether Jews may remain at all. https:\/\/israel365news.com\/421073\/belgium-wages-war-on-circumcision-covenant-eu-commissioner-says-jews-must-live-their-faith-openly\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The time will come that there will be regular animal sacrifices in Jerusalem which a European leader, called the King of the North and Beast, will stop per Daniel 9:27 and 11:31.<\/p>\n

Regarding male circumcision, the EU is not actually outlawing it, but adding regulations that various ones in the Jewish community object to.<\/p>\n

Despite scientifically-documented benefits for male circumcision, there was been an increasing anti-circumcision trend in the West.<\/p>\n

A political party in Norway proposed banning it in 2017 (see\u00a0Circumcision & Norway; Antisemitism rising in Germany<\/a>).<\/p>\n

An anti-circumcision group put up a billboard years ago in the United States:<\/p>\n

‘Love ALL of him’: Billboard asks parents to rethink circumcision<\/strong><\/p>\n

July 7, 2018<\/p>\n

Opposed to any baby boy being circumcised, a Texas-based nonprofit called Your Whole Baby has paid for a billboard on the Boulevard of the Allies near Ward Street in Oakland. Expected to be up for a month, it has an image of a man holding a baby, with the message, \u201cLove ALL of him. Circumcision harms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Hartley, state director for Your Whole Baby PA, said the neighborhood was chosen because it\u2019s near UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, where UPMC says about 11,000 babies are born each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe billboard is to make people think about something they often take for granted,\u201d Mr. Hartley said. \u201cTaking off healthy tissue from their children, it\u2019s unethical, plain and simple \u2014 regardless of the culture, regardless of the parents\u2019 religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Hartley said health organizations around the world do not support circumcision, maintaining that the foreskin, the fold of skin at the end of the penis, has purpose and should remain intact. http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/news\/health\/2018\/07\/07\/Billboard-asks-parents-to-rethink-circumcision-parents-infant-male\/stories\/201807060178<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notice that the group is opposed to freedom of religion.<\/p>\n

But what about the claim that health organizations around the world do not support male circumcision (MC)?<\/p>\n

That is basically nonsense. The World Health Organization, US Center(s) for Disease Control, and the American Academy of Pediatricians to cite just three, endorse male circumcision.<\/p>\n

The Bible warns:<\/p>\n

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13<\/span> But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.<\/span> (2 Timothy 3:13)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Those opposed to male circumcision are deceived and are making deceptive statements.<\/p>\n

Here are three items from the CDC:<\/p>\n

March 10, 2023<\/p>\n

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is associated with an approximately 60% reduction in the risk for female-to-male transmission of HIV. The U.S. President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, through CDC and other organizations, has supported VMMC for HIV prevention in eastern and southern Africa. During 2010\u20132016, CDC supported 5,880,372 VMMCs performed in 12 countries. https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/volumes\/72\/wr\/mm7210a2.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

A risk-benefit analysis8<\/a> cited by the CDC2<\/sup> found that benefits of infant MC exceed risks by over 100:1. https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5478224\/<\/a><\/p>\n

December 2, 2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Tuesday released a draft of long-awaited federal guidelines on circumcision, saying medical evidence supports having the procedure done and health insurers should pay for it.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines stop short of telling parent to get their newborn sons circumcised. That is a personal decision that may involve religious or cultural preferences, said the CDC’s Dr. Jonathan Mermin.<\/p>\n

But “the scientific evidence is clear that the benefits outweigh the risks,” added Mermin, who oversees the agency’s programs on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.<\/p>\n

These are the first federal guidelines on circumcision, a brief medical procedure that involves cutting away the foreskin around the tip of the penis. Germs can grow underneath the foreskin, and CDC officials say the procedure can lower a male’s risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, penile cancer and even urinary tract infections.<\/p>\n

The CDC started working on the guidelines about seven years ago, when a cluster of influential studies in Africa indicated circumcision might help stop spread of the AIDS virus.<\/p>\n

“The benefits of male circumcision have become more and more clear over the last 10 years,” said Dr. Aaron Tobian, a Johns Hopkins University researcher involved in one of the African studies. …<\/p>\n

In the new guidelines, the CDC says there is now strong evidence that male circumcision can:<\/p>\n

-Cut a man’s risk of getting HIV from an infected female partner by 50 to 60 percent.<\/p>\n

-Reduce their risk of genital herpes and certain strains of human papillomavirus by 30 percent or more.<\/p>\n

-Lower the odds of urinary tract infections during infancy, and cancer of the penis in adulthood.<\/p>\n

Studies have not shown that circumcision will reduce an HIV-infected man’s chances of spreading the AIDS virus to women. And research has not found circumcision to be a help in stopping spread of HIV during gay sex.<\/p>\n

The guidelines say circumcision is safer for newborns and infants than for older males, noting the complication rate rises from 0.5 percent in newborns to 9 percent in children ages 1 to 9, according to the CDC. Minor bleeding and pain are the most common problems, experts say. http:\/\/www.aol.com\/article\/2014\/12\/02\/cdc-says-circumcision-benefits-outweigh-the-risks\/21001823\/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D574260<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Bible has advocated male circumcision for thousands of years, and it suggests it specifically for newborn infants.<\/p>\n

There have been numerous studies that support male circumcision. Notice the following:<\/p>\n

Clinical trials<\/strong><\/p>\n

The protective effect of circumcision was confirmed through clinical trials about 10 years ago, prompting the World Health Organization and local governments to launch massive circumcision programs in 14 priority countries in Africa, which represent 50 percent of all AIDS cases.<\/p>\n

After counseling at the clinic, men are offered an HIV test because UNAIDS estimates more than half the people living with HIV are not aware of their status.<\/p>\n

The next step is the surgery, which lasts 5 to 7 minutes and is pain free, said general practitioner Dumisani Mhlambi.<\/p>\n

“All they are scared of, all they are thinking of, is pain: Is there gonna be pain inflicted more than anything else,” Mhlambi said, adding that most surgeries are pain free.<\/p>\n

The Bophelo Pele clinic in Orange Farm was the first circumcision center to open in South Africa in 2007.<\/p>\n

Awareness campaigns seem to be working in this neighborhood, where more than 80 percent of men are circumcised, compared with less than 20 percent seven years ago. Dozens of other centers have since opened across the country.<\/p>\n

Male nurse Mandisi Mfazwe said social norms have shifted over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has now become a norm in Orange Farm. Now if you’re not circumcised, some guys will laugh at you. So people come also because of peer pressure. Not only because of the HIV\/AIDS reason, but it is beneficial for them at the end of the day,\u201d Mfazwe said.<\/p>\n

Impact of circumcisions studied<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHAPS, the Center for HIV and AIDS Prevention Studies, which manages the clinics, continues to study the impact of circumcisions.<\/p>\n

CEO Dirk Taljaard said new data suggests circumcision benefits women, too.<\/p>\n

“We saw a protective effect for women. If you had women in the community that have only had circumcised partners, the risk was reduced already by 20 percent for 15- to 25-years-old women,\u201d Taljaard said.<\/p>\n

Some studies estimate that, in South Africa, for every four circumcisions, one HIV infection is avoided. Since 2007, more than 1.5 million circumcisions have been performed in the country, suggesting close to 400,000 new infections may have been avoided. http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/content\/south-africa-sees-male-circumcision-as-way-to-reduce-hiv-infections\/2538279.html<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Back in 2011, in a local newspaper, I read an article by San Luis Obispo medical doctor Steven Sainsbury who also advocated various benefits for males being circumcised (Debunking Circumcision Myths The Tribune, July 21, 2011, page B5). Some of the facts he presented were:<\/p>\n

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  1. Male circumcision lowers human papilloma virus (HPV) in female partners.<\/li>\n
  2. Male circumcision confers an element of protection from HIV (and he cited a USA study)<\/li>\n
  3. Uncircumcised males can get their foreskins swollen, sometimes in a dangerous fashion called paraphimosis.<\/li>\n
  4. Uncircumcised males are more likely to get a urinary obstruction called phimosis.<\/li>\n
  5. Uncircumcised males are more likely to have hygiene problems.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    He also mentioned that the procedure for infants has little, if any pain, especially since a local anesthesia is now being used.<\/p>\n

    Notice the following from the CDC:<\/p>\n

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    Medical Conditions That Male Circumcision Protects Against Over the Lifetime<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n