‘’After the ban on ritual slaughter, the harassment of mohels constitutes a new border crossing and a clear warning signal to Belgian Jews and the Belgian government,’’ says the European Jewish Association.

The European Jewish Association (EJA), an organization that represents hundreds of Jewish communities and thousands of Jews across Europe,  strongly condemned Wednesday a raid of police on the mohels’ building in the city of Antwerp, Belgium.

According to a report, early on Wednesday a court-ordered search was conducted at the home of mohel Rabbi Aharon Eckstein and other mohels in the city. The police confiscated all the knives in their possession and requested a list of the children they had circumcised over the past year.

The police search followed a lawsuit filed against the mohels in Antwerp over the practice of Brit Milah or circumcision.

According to daily newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen, the Antwerp prosecutor’s office confirms that the searches are part of a “long-term investigation” into illegal circumcisions.

Rabbi Eckstein told the Jewish News Syndicate that  police ”didn’t say much. They just looked through the place and took my kit.”  He said he intends to continue performing circumcisions, “because I have not been told not to.”

In a statement, the European Jewish Association slammed the police raid as ‘’ yet another crossing of a red line in the harassment of Jewish religious leaders in Belgium.’’

‘’After the ban on ritual slaughter, the harassment of mohels constitutes a new border crossing and a clear warning signal to Belgian Jews and the Belgian government,’’ it said.

The EJA stresses that religious freedom ‘’must be guaranteed’’ and that ‘’any restriction, however small, on circumcision in Belgium would send a clear signal to Belgian Jews that they are not welcome in the country.’’

‘’Police departments, policy makers, the government and members of parliament urgently need to pass legislation that explicitly guarantees that circumcision is recognized as a protected part of religious freedom,’’ the EJA stated.

Een joodse moheel is een persoon die gespecialiseerd is in het uitvoeren van de Brit bRIT mILA? besnijdenis, een ritueel dat in het Jodendom wordt uitgevoerd om een jongetje toe te treden tot het Joodse verbond. De moheel is dus iemand die speciaal opgeleid is in de rituele en medische aspecten van de besnijdenis.