Belgium summons US ambassador over mohel prosecution dispute

US Ambassador BWBill White posted on social media on February 16, 2026, calling Belgium's investigation of three Antwerp mohels 'ridiculous and antisemitic' and demanding Health Minister FVFrank Vandenbroucke 'immediately make a legal provision to allow Jewish religious MOHELS to perform their duties.' White called the prosecution 'unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community here in Antwerp and in Belgium.'

Belgium summoned White to the foreign ministry on February 17, 2026, a formal diplomatic protest under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Summoning an ambassador is one step below declaring them persona non grata and expelling them. Foreign Minister MPMaxime Prevot told White that 'an ambassador accredited to Belgium has a responsibility to respect our institutions, our elected representatives, and the independence of our judicial system.'

The investigation began in May 2025 when police raided the homes of three men in Antwerp after a complaint from a local Jewish community member, not Belgian authorities. The complainant alleged that six mohels had endangered children by performing metzitzah b'peh, the practice of applying oral suction to the circumcision wound. Prosecutors eventually charged three mohels with performing a medical procedure without a license.

Metzitzah b'peh carries documented health risks

The CDC reported that between 2000 and 2011, eleven infant boys in 🗽New York City contracted herpes simplex virus type 1 after the procedure

Ten were hospitalized, at least two developed brain damage, and two died 🗽New York City introduced consent form requirements in 2012, though Mayor Bill de Blasio lifted those requirements in 2015 after negotiations with ultra-Orthodox leaders.

Belgian law doesn't ban ritual circumcision

It requires that any surgical procedure, including circumcision, be performed by a licensed physician under health and safety standards

The Antwerp investigation is about who performs the procedure and how, not whether the ritual itself is permitted Belgian officials have repeatedly emphasized this distinction.

Antwerp hosts one of Europe's largest Haredi Jewish communities, estimated at about 25,000 people. Around 63% of Antwerp's Jewish population identifies as Haredi and another 19% as Orthodox. The city has 30 Orthodox synagogues and is the fourth-largest Haredi community outside Israel, after 🗽New York, London, and Paris.

Ambassador White was confirmed by the Senate on October 7, 2025 after being nominated by President Trump. White is a former president of the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum who previously donated to both Democratic and Republican candidates. He left the Intrepid Museum in 2010 following a 🗽New York state pension fund scandal investigation, paying a $1 million settlement without criminal charges.

The dispute fits a broader European pattern. In 2017, Belgium's own Federal Bioethics Committee ruled that non-therapeutic circumcision of minors is ethically problematic, prioritizing 'the child's right to physical integrity.' In 2013, children's ombudsmen from all five Nordic countries proposed banning non-therapeutic circumcision of minors, though no Nordic country has enacted such a ban.