From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 16, 2026
US Ambassador to Belgium calls on Brussels to drop charges over illegal circumcisions
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleZev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White has called on the country to drop all charges against three mohels (people who perform ritual circumcision) arrested last summer in a raid, calling the case antisemitic.
In a sharply worded post on X, White says Belgium must drop the “ridiculous and antisemitic ‘prosecution'” of the mohels.
“They are doing what they have been trained to do for thousands of years,” he writes.
In May, police in Antwerp rounded up mohels suspected of illegally conducting the ritual Jewish circumcisions.
Police were concerned that the brit milah ritual was being performed on Jewish baby boys by unlicensed mohels instead of professional doctors. There are no laws specifically regulating Jewish ritual circumcision, but Belgium has laws mandating that all medical procedures must be performed by a licensed doctor.
Some, however, have charged that the raids were part of a larger campaign of intimidation against Jewish religious figures in Belgium.
Indicating that he had the backing of US President Donald Trump, White calls on Belgian Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke to stop the country’s “unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community” and deregulate the ritual, which also has documented health benefits.
“It’s 2026, you need to get into the 21st century and allow our brethren Jewish families in Belgium to legally execute their religious freedoms!” he writes. “It’s done in all civilized countries as a legal procedure.”
White says he will meet with the mohels in Antwerp next week, and calls on Vandenbroucke to join him.
“It’s disgusting what’s happened to these fine men and their families because of your inaction,” White writes. “Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter!”
Anti Semitism is UNACCEPTABLE in any form & it must be rooted out of our society.
President TRUMP @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @JDVance @VP @SecRubio @StateSEAS @DeputySecState and I call upon all of Belgium to do a much better job on this subject !
TO BELGIUM,
SPECIFICALLY YOU…
— Ambassador Bill White (@BillWhiteUSA) February 16, 2026
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