Tag Archive for Circumcision

| February 19, 2018
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Icelandic lawmakers rush to ban circumcision

Eight Icelandic parliamentarians from across the political spectrum have signed the proposed legislation banning circumcision, proposing 6 years in prison for violators who perform the Jewish religious rite.

By Kobi Nachshoni

 

A bill submitted this week to the Icelandic parliament is calling for the banning of circumcision and sets the penalty for violators at six years in prison.

Senior European rabbis are fuming at the legislative initiative and are calling on Jewish communities on the continent to apply international pressure in order to prevent the bill’s adoption and ensure freedom of religion.

A Jewish ‘brit’, circumcision ceremony. – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP.pn

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| June 30, 2014
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High Court relieved rabbinical courts of it’s authority over circumcision decisions

Israel’s High Court decided that family courts will decide whether a baby gets a circumcision when divorcing parents disagree on the issue, and not the rabbinical court that’s dealing with the divorce.

 

In a dramatic decision on religion and democracy, the High Court of Justice on Sunday took away authority from the rabbinical court system over whether a divorcing couple had to circumcise their son.

Eitan's Brit

Secular “Brit Milah” Jewish circumcision ceremony – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The vote to move the issue into the family court system was 6-1 with Deputy Supreme Court Justice Miriam Naor, Justices Salim Jabraun, Esther Hayot, Hanan Meltzer, Yoram Danziger and Neal Hendel voting in the majority against Justice Elyakim Rubsinstein voting in the minority. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 12, 2014
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Denmark & Norway allow male circumcision under gov’t guidelines

In Denmark’s press release Friday: ‘Ritual circumcision of boys has been practiced for thousands of years in the Jewish & Muslim populations. The procedure is not banned in any country.’ 

“When someone believes very strongly that circumcision is correct, then it is no use going against them,” agreed Lise Moller, the chief of the association’s ethics committee.

By JTA

 

Resisting calls to ban the non-medical circumcision of boys, the governments of Norway and Denmark have taken steps to preserve the practice’s legal status.

Health Minister Bent Høie on the podium at the Parliament in Oslo. - Photo: Thomas Winje Øijord/NTB Scanpix

Health Minister Bent Høie on the podium at the Parliament in Oslo. – Photo: Thomas Winje Øijord/NTB Scanpix

Norway’s health ministry has submitted a bill that proposes placing some limitations and fees on ritual circumcision but not banning it outright, while Denmark’s health board issued guidelines stating that the practice is legal.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| April 5, 2014
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Study Determines Circumcision Comparable to Vaccination

American-Australian medical research team finds 50% of uncircumcised males will contract an adverse medical condition caused by their foreskin.

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An Australian-American team of researchers recommended circumcising infant males to avoid diseases, in a new study that compared the practice to vaccination.

A mohel doctor is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision.

A mohel is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision. Photo: AP

The team, led by Brian Morris of the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney, asserted in their newly published study that half of uncircumcised males will contract an adverse medical condition caused by their foreskin. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| March 18, 2014
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Court criticizes Knesset for neglecting to regulate ritual circumcision

An Ashkelon judge lambastes Israel’s parliament for continually failing to manage this problem in its ruling acquitting 2 men of performing a circumcision without licenses.

By
 

An Israeli court slammed the Knesset on Thursday for failing to enact legislation regulating circumcision, saying it should have done so long ago.

A mohel is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision. Photo by AP

A mohel is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision. – Photo: AP

Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court Judge Haim Nachmias issued the rare criticism in his verdict acquitting two mohels, or “ritual circumcisers,” on charges of negligence.

“The legislators would be wise to regulate the profession of performing circumcisions, and the supervision of those performing this religious commandment, through legislation,” he wrote.

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Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: , , , , ,
| December 12, 2013
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Israeli Device to Begin Circumcising 700,000 Rwandans in HIV/AIDS Prevention

The World Health Organization approved an Israeli-developed non-surgical device to begin circumcising the adult male population of Rwanda to help control HIV/AIDS.

By Avner Meyrav, NoCamels

 

 

Circumcising the entire adult male population of Rwanda, a country of over 11 million people of which three percent is HIV positive, would seem an impossible – and rather painful – task to most. But Israeli technology is once again proving it can beat the odds, with a breakthrough medical device that allows performing the procedure on a mass scale, with no incisions, bleeding, or anesthesia.

prepex Breakthrough Israeli Device Will Circumcise 700,000 Rwandans To Prevent HIV/AIDS

The PrePex

 

Too good to be true? Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| November 27, 2013
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Rabbinical Court fines woman $140. day until she circumcises her son


Mother ordered to pay NS 3,500 fine plus NS 500 (shekels) each day unless she performs circumcision. 

“If the issue of circumcision is left to every individual to decide, how will the rest of the world view this?” rabbis say.

Case appealed to High Court.

By Nitzi Yakov

A woman who refused to have her newborn circumcised will have to pay a 3,500-shekel ($987) fine, the Netanya Rabbinical Court ruled this week. The court said the penalty would be waived if her child undergoes circumcision within one week. Failure to comply beyond that deadline would result in an additional 500 shekel ($141) charge per day.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| November 25, 2013
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Norwegian gov’t official: Muslims and Jews circumcise out of ignorance

Norwegian gov’t’s child welfare adviser says minorities’ parents would shy away from  circumcision if they knew pain, risk & lack of health benefits involved.

By

 

 

The Norwegian government’s child welfare adviser said Jews and Muslims would stop circumcising children if they learn more about the risks and pain that the ‘procedure involves.

Eitan's Brit

A Jewish circumcision ceremony. – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

“With good information about risk, pain and lack of health benefits of the intervention, I think parents from minorities would voluntarily abstain from circumcising children,” Anne Lindboe, Norway’s Children’s Ombudsmen, told the Norwegian Aftenpost daily last week.

Lindboe, who last year advised Jews and Muslims to replace circumcision with “a symbolic ritual,” also told the paper that non-medical circumcision of pre-teen boys should be outlawed and those performing it should be punished similarly to people who use violence against children. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| October 10, 2013
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Council of Europe: Religious Circumcisions are Legal

The head of the Council of Europe responds to Israel’s President Shimon Peres’s letter, assuring him there’s no law banning male circumcision.

By Elad Benari

 

President Shimon Peres was assured on Wednesday that there is no binding law banning male circumcision in Europe for religious reasons.

Eitan's Brit

Secular “Brit Milah” Jewish circumcision ceremony – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The head of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, responded to a letter Peres had sent earlier in the week, urging the council to reconsider a resolution it adopted against circumcision.

Jagland clarified in the letter that there were no “legal provisions regarding the practice of circumcision of young boys for religious reasons.” Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| October 4, 2013
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Israel asks Council of Europe to cancel anti-circumcision resolution

“For the Jewish people, this is a path that stood the test of thousands of years, and now the Council of Europe is trying to erase it.”

By HERB KEINON

 

 

Israel on Friday called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to annul a resolution it passed on Tuesday against circumcision, calling it a “moral stain” on the Council.

Rabbi holds boy for circumcision

Rabbi holds boy for circumcision – Photo: REUTERS

“Circumcision of male children is an ancient religious tradition of two important religions, Judaism and Islam, and it is also common among some Christian circles,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| October 3, 2013
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European Council Wants Ban on Circumcision

Calling circumcision of children a violation of human rights, the European Council calls for a legal ban until age 15.

By Maayana Miskin

 

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a pan-European group, has passed a resolution condemning circumcision of children as a violation of human rights, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reports.

Eitan's Brit

Secular “Brit Milah” Jewish circumcision ceremony – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The resolution passed with 78 in favor to just 13 against. Fifteen people abstained from the vote.

Representatives called to ban “certain operations and practices…before a child is old enough to be consulted.” The age suggested for allowing circumcision was 15. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| June 3, 2013
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World Health Organization approves Israeli-developed circumcision device

The PrePex, an Israeli-developed non-surgical tool, is the only circumcision method, aside from conventional surgery, to gain WHO approval to date.

By JTA

 

The World Health Organization approved an Israeli-developed non-surgical circumcision device that could soon be used throughout Africa to help control AIDS.

The PrePex is the only circumcision method, aside from conventional surgery, to gain World Health Organization approval to date

The PrePex is the only circumcision method, aside from conventional surgery, to gain World Health Organization approval to date.

WHO on Friday approved PrePex, a disposable and easy-to-use device made up of rubber bands, that obviates the need for anesthesia, stitches or a sterile setting, the New York Times reported.

The foreskin dies of lack of oxygen and either falls off on its own or is easily cut off, according to reports.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: ,
| March 19, 2013
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U.S. doctors support discussing circumcision outside of ‘bias’

A large percentage of non-Jewish males in the United States are circumcised, whereas in Europe the custom is limited almost exclusively to Jews and Muslims.

 

By JTA

 

Thirty-eight physicians from Europe wrote a paper alleging that “cultural bias” was behind the pro-circumcision stance of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Eitan's Brit

Secular Brit – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The commentary, published Monday on the website of the U.S.-based Pediatrics journal, disputes a report by the academy last August that  “benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks but the benefits are not great enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision.”

The European reply, titled “Cultural Bias in the AAP’s 2012 Technical Report and Policy Statement on Male Circumcision,” says that “seen from the outside, cultural bias reflecting the normality of nontherapeutic male circumcision in the United States seems obvious. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags:
| December 28, 2012
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Jews & Human Rights In Europe: The Unfulfilled Promises

There is a genuine risk that core Jewish religious practices may come under attack through the European Court of Human Rights.  A verdict against circumcision in that court would apply in all 47 member states of the Council of Europe (including the U.K., France, Russia, and Ukraine).

 

Seventy years ago, on December 17 1942, British Foreign Minister Sir Anthony Eden reported to the House of Commons that the Jews of Germany and German-occupied Eastern Europe were being systematically starved and murdered.  He read a declaration by the Allies (named by Franklin Delano Roosevelt the “United Nations”) condemning this “bestial policy.”   Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| December 12, 2012
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German parliament passes federal law protecting circumcision ceremony

The new law, with restrictions for the 1st time, requires that the procedure be carried out by a medically trained and certified practitioner or by a medical professional, and that anesthetic be used if needed.

By JTA

 

BERLIN– The German parliament passed a law protecting the right of Jewish and Muslim parents to choose a ritual circumcision for their sons.

Brit ceremony – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

In all, 434 legislators voted Wednesday for the new law proposed by the federal government; there were 100 votes against, and 46 abstentions. The vote came after months of heated debate over the practice, spurred in large part by a German court ruled earlier this year that called into question the legality of ritual circumcision for children. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
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