Belgian police raided the houses of mohalim in Antwerp on Wednesday morning, seizing circumcision knives and other instruments in an "unprecedented" move that has sparked an outcry in Israel.

Mohalim perform the Brit Milah or circumcision ceremony on a baby Jewish boy. In Belgium, it is the law that circumcisions be done by doctors or those with medical training.

According to Belgian reports, alongside the seizing of tools the mohalim were asked to provide records of all boys they had circumcised in the last year.

VRT reported that the searches were carried out at the request of an Antwerp Examining Magistrate that is leading an investigation into illegal circumcisions. The report alleged that the investigation arose after a member of Antwerp’s Jewish community complained that the mohalim were carrying out circumcisions without the necessary medical training.

“Objects have been found that indicate possible involvement in these illegal circumcisions, and these have been taken away for further investigation,” Kristof Aerts of the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office told VRT Nieuws. “No one has been arrested at this time, but people have been invited for questioning at a later date. These are people who are suspected of being involved in these illegal circumcisions.”

Policemen detain a person after youth clashed with Israeli football supporters, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. (credit: Mizzle Media/Handout via REUTERS)
Policemen detain a person after youth clashed with Israeli football supporters, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. (credit: Mizzle Media/Handout via REUTERS)
The public prosecutor’s office spokesperson Kristof Aerts confirmed that “The investigation focuses on medical procedures performed by men without medical training. In other words: the circumcisions were allegedly not performed by recognized doctors.”

Searches were carried out at 2 addresses in Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter and at a house in the ‘Groen Kwartier area of Antwerp, however no one was arrested.

Urgent appeal sent to Belgian Ambassador to Israel, Sa'ar

Israeli newspaper B'Chadrei Charedim, the investigation focuses on two well-known mohalim: Rabbi Aharon Eckstein and Rabbi Moshe David Landau. According to Belgiam media, the complaint came from dissident Antwerp rabbi Moshe Friedman, who filed a complaint last year against several ritual circumcisers who he said pose a danger to babies. 

Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, MK Rabbi Moshe Roth, issued an urgent appeal to the Belgian Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Stéphane Taymans, and to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, urging immediate intervention in the matter. 

In his letter to the Belgian Ambassador, MK Roth called the incident "a profoundly disturbing violation of religious freedom and individual rights."

“The circumcision ceremony is one of the most foundational and sanctified commandments in Jewish tradition for thousands of years,” Roth wrote. “Any attempt to interfere is perceived as a direct attack on the very core of Jewish identity.”

Roth called on Belgian authorities to return the confiscated circumcision instruments to their rightful owners.

Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli announced he had contacted Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever to express shock over the arrest of mohels in Antwerp. "This is one of the gravest violations of religious freedom against the Jewish community I’ve encountered in office," he said.

EJA Chairman, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, said that, "Following the ban on ritual slaughter, the harassment of Mohels represents a further red line and a clear warning sign to Belgian Jews and the Belgian government.”