US ambassador to Belgium urges nation to drop charges over illegal circumcisions
Accusations against three mohels for acting without medical license are ‘antisemitic,’ Bill White says; European Commission also seeking a solution to impasse over Jewish ritual
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US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White has called on the country to drop all investigations against three mohels (individuals who perform circumcision) arrested last summer in a raid, calling the case antisemitic in a sharply worded post on X.
In May, police in Antwerp rounded up mohels suspected of illegally conducting the ritual Jewish circumcisions. Officials conducted early morning raids on three locations in Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter and nearby Green Quarter seeking knives and other equipment used in circumcisions, according to reports at the time.
Three mohels have been charged for performing a medical intervention without a medical license, and prosecutors now believe they have enough evidence to get a conviction, Belgian MP Michael Freilich, the country’s only Orthodox Jewish lawmaker, told The Times of Israel. A trial date has not yet been set, he said, noting it may take several months to do so.
At the time of the raids, Jewish community representatives charged that the raids were part of a larger campaign of intimidation against Jewish religious figures in Belgium. Police said they were concerned that circumcisions were being performed on Jewish baby boys by unlicensed mohels. Belgium has laws mandating that all medical procedures must be performed by a licensed doctor.
“The problem is that there is no clear law regarding circumcision at the moment,” Freilich explained at the time. “It’s not that brit milah is not allowed; it’s that there needs to be a clearer law about who can perform the procedure.”
In his post on X Monday, White called the charges against the mohels “ridiculous and antisemitic ‘prosecution.'”
The mohels “are doing what they have been trained to do for thousands of years,” he wrote.
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
Indicating that he had the backing of US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other leading officials, White called on Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke to stop the country’s “unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community” and deregulate the ritual, which is commonly done in many countries and 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 wrote.
White said he will meet with the mohels in Antwerp next week, and called on Vandenbroucke to join him.
“It’s disgusting what’s happened to these fine men and their families,” White wrote.
The statement shows that “America continues to uphold a promise that Europe also pledged to keep: safeguarding Jewish life and ensuring that Jews can live openly and securely,” said Ralph Pais, vice-chair of the Jewish Information and Documentation Centre (JID). “We expect Belgium to fully comply with the very principles and democratic values it professes to uphold.”
Meanwhile, European Commissioner of Health Olivér Várhelyi is also putting pressure on Vandenbroucke to find a solution, without any success yet, Freilich noted. Várhelyi is scheduled to meet with the Jewish community in Antwerp in the coming weeks, he added.
“I repeat my call to the health minister to accept the outstretched hand of the Jewish community to try to find a solution and regulate the practice,” Freilich added. “We need to see how we can implement the highest levels of health and medicine within the requirements of religious freedom. Other countries such as Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom have shown it is possible, and we must do the same here.”
Germany, for example, has a law allowing for a mohel accepted by the Jewish community to perform circumcision, Freilich noted. The UK has a 300-year-old Mohel Initiation Society regulating the practice, and the Conference of European Rabbis has a Union of Mohels of Europe working to develop a system of self-regulation and licensing for mohels that will make government oversight unnecessary.
Most countries do not have any specific legislation regarding circumcision, so the Jewish ritual can continue as a religious ritual without intervention, Freilich explained. While there are fears that Belgium could one day ban circumcision completely, Freilich insisted that such a thing would never happen.
Unlicensed circumcisions are under increased scrutiny in Europe, however. In 2024, authorities in Ireland arrested a rabbi from London for allegedly performing circumcision without required medical credentials.
Circumcision is relatively uncommon among the general population of Europe, with only 10-20 percent of males having gone under the knife, compared to over 70% in the United States.
Muslims generally undergo circumcision at a hospital, not in a religious ceremony, so the legislation is primarily a Jewish issue.
Pais said White’s post was a “huge bomb,” positioning Belgium’s fight against antisemitism as an American priority in the country.
Antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments have skyrocketed in Belgium since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023. Attacks such as verbal abuse, intimidation, physical violence, and graffiti continue to occur in the 30,000-strong Jewish community on a weekly basis, Pais has said.
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