California – When a group of activists proposed banning circumcision in San Francisco last fall, many people simply brushed them aside. Even in that liberal seaside city, it seemed implausible that thousands of people would support an effort to outlaw an ancient ritual that Jews and Muslims believe fulfills a commandment issued by God.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
But last month, the group collected the more than 7,100 signatures needed to get a measure on the fall ballot that would make it illegal to snip the foreskin of a minor within city limits. Now a similar effort is under way in Santa Monica to get such a measure on the ballot for November 2012.
If the anticircumcision activists (they prefer the term “intactivists”) have their way, cities across the country may be voting on whether to criminalize a practice that is common in many American hospitals. Activists say the measures would protect children from an unnecessary medical procedure, calling it “male genital mutilation.”
“This is the furthest we’ve gotten, and it is a huge step for us,” said Matthew Hess, an activist based in San Diego who wrote both bills.
Jewish groups see the ballot measures as a very real threat, likening them to bans on circumcision that existed in Soviet-era Russia and Eastern Europe and in ancient Roman and Greek times. The circumcision of males is an inviolable requirement of Jewish law that dates back to Abraham’s circumcision of himself in the Book of Genesis.
They say the proposed ban is an assault on religious freedom that could have a widespread impact all over the country. Beyond the biblical, there are emotional connections: checking for circumcision was one of the ways Jewish children could be culled from their peers by Nazis and the czar’s armies.
“People are shocked that it has reached this level because there has never been this kind of a direct assault on a Jewish practice here,” said Marc Stern, associate general counsel for the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group. “This is something that American Jews have always taken for granted – that something that was so contested elsewhere but here, we’re safe and we’re secure.”
Mr. Hess also writes an online comic book, “Foreskin Man,” with villains like “Monster Mohel.” On Friday, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement saying the comic employed “grotesque anti-Semitic imagery,” (as was reported here on Vos Iz Neias).
If the ballot measure passed, it would certainly face legal challenges. But several legal experts said it was far from certain that it would be struck down in a court.
If anybody ever questioned the pure evil of unchecked liberalism, question no more. These are the same people who are pro-abortion and anti-Israel. Just check your local college campus.
I have a question for these Christian humanitarians who want to ban circumcision.
Given that baptism bears a resemblance to water boarding, will that be your next target?
Hitler y’ms, was quoted as saying that he faulted the Jews for giving humanity two things:
A conscience and circumcision.
This person undoubtedly sympathises with the nazis and hitler, he just disguises it as ‘protecting children’
America, as a safe haven for Jews is not gonna last. After all we are in golus…
There a great many fully certified and competent mohel mumchas in Marin county and southern california so its not as if they are proposing to stop all brissim in the state.
I didn’t think I would ever live to see the day that in out of all places, the banning of Mila would be on the cards in the USA. I would have expected some place like Sweden. It says a lot about the Median Shel Chessed that we are living in.
This garbage would not look out of place in another infamous piece of garbage from the Nazi era, “Der Sturmer”…
If Matthew Hess isn’t related by blood to the Nazi by the same last name, he is related by hatred.
If the San Fran-sick-os don’t like circumcism then by all means they shouldn’t have it performed on themselves. However, Milha has been practiced safely for 1,000’s of years without any harm to anyone. They have no right to ban something that has a proven safety record. This is pure anti semitism. Why don’t they attack pot smoking, drug use, aids, abortion, Gay marriage, air polllution, porn, or any other truely dangerous activity. It is quite clear what their agenda is.
The Jews in these cities should get on the same ballot a law that would REQUIRE the circumcision of all male babies. Of course it would be defeated . But it would bring home the point that I won’t tell you what to do and you won’t tell me
the government has no official position on the practice of religion. I would think that any law banning circucision would be struck down as unconstitutional. However, after much money and aggravation.
If they are going to ban circumcision then they should also ban ear and body piercing. Those also mutilate the child’s body without permission. The jewelry industry will be sure to defeat the measure.
Ban circumcisions, but allow abortions? One is killing, one is not……..