A case that began with shocking pre-dawn police raids on the homes of Antwerp mohalim has erupted into a full-blown international diplomatic incident, with the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium firing off a blistering public rebuke, Israel’s foreign minister piling on with a scathing catalogue of Belgian antisemitism, and Belgium summoning the American ambassador in response.

The saga traces back to almost one year ago, when Belgian police conducted early-morning raids on the homes of several mohalim in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter, including Rabbi Moshe David Landau and Rabbi Aharon Eckstein.

Officers confiscated their bris knives and other equipment used for the brisim, and demanded records of every infant circumcised during the prior year. Witnesses described police threatening to break down doors if residents did not open them immediately.

Three of the mohalim were subsequently charged with performing a medical procedure without a license, the basis for prosecution being Belgium’s law requiring that all medical interventions be carried out by a licensed physician.

Belgian MP Michael Freilich – the country’s only frum Jewish lawmaker – confirmed that prosecutors believe they have sufficient evidence to pursue a conviction, though a trial date has not yet been set.

The bitter irony, as Freilich and others have pointed out, is that Belgium has no process whatsoever by which a mohel can obtain official certification. There is no license to obtain. This means that virtually any bris performed without a physician could theoretically be deemed illegal – not because bris mila is prohibited, but because the state has never created a legal framework for it.

Behind the scenes, efforts to resolve the matter had already been underway for some time. Approximately a month ago, Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Kalman Bar met with a senior EU delegation that included Health and Animal Welfare Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi and EU Ambassador to Israel Michael Mann.

Rabbi Bar raised a series of concerns about the situation facing Jews in Europe, foremost among them the restrictions on shechita and the fact that brisos in Belgium were effectively being performed in hiding. He proposed, among other ideas, that Israel itself issue certification to mohalim – credentials that the EU could then formally recognize.

MP Freilich also made repeated approaches to Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke, who serves simultaneously as Deputy Prime Minister and is one of the country’s most prominent politicians. All of those efforts came to nothing. Sources familiar with the matter say Vandenbroucke displayed indifference to the situation throughout.

On Monday, U.S. Ambassador Bill White published a sharply worded post on X, copied directly to President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other senior officials.:

“Antisemitism is UNACCEPTABLE in any form and it must be rooted out of our society. You must drop the ridiculous and antisemitic ‘prosecution’ now of the three Jewish religious figures (mohels) in Antwerp! They are doing what they have been trained to do for thousands of years.”

Addressing Vandenbroucke directly, he wrote: “You must make a legal provision to allow Jewish religious mohels to perform their duties here in Belgium. It’s done in all civilized countries as legal procedure. Belgium is a civilized country. Stop this unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community here in Antwerp and in Belgium.”

The ambassador also disclosed details of a prior meeting with Vandenbroucke, accusing him of deliberately stalling. “Frank, do not ‘wait for this case to end,'” he wrote. “You told me that this is your sneaky tactic in our first meeting, where you refused to shake my hand or be photographed with me.”

He noted that the meeting had taken place in a conference room named after Eleanor Roosevelt – and that the minister’s displayed hostility toward America, a country whose sons “died for Belgium’s freedom twice – in WWI and in WWII”. He announced that he would travel to Antwerp to meet personally with the mohalim and their families, challenging Vandenbroucke to join him.

Belgium’s response was swift. Health Minister Vandenbroucke announced that Ambassador White would be summoned for a formal reprimand at the foreign ministry. In his public reply, he wrote: “Any insinuation that Belgium is antisemitic is false, harmful, and unacceptable.”

He insisted that Belgian law does permit ritual circumcision – when performed by a qualified physician under strict health and safety standards – and warned that “labeling Belgium as antisemitic is not just wrong – it is dangerous disinformation that undermines the real fight against hatred.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded with a detailed and pointed response of his own. “According to Belgian data,” he wrote, “there has been a sharp and consecutive rise in antisemitic attacks in Belgium for more than five years. Jews in Belgium are afraid to wear a kippah in the streets.”

He noted that two Jewish cemeteries had been desecrated, that there had been an arson attempt on an Antwerp shul, and that Jewish students report ongoing harassment and discrimination. An ADL survey, he added, shows that antisemitism in Belgium is “two to three times more prevalent than in neighboring countries.”

“Suddenly, after thousands of years of bris mila, the community of mohalim finds itself under attack”, Sa’ar wtote.

He also noted that Belgian-Jewish citizens living in Yehudah and the Shomron are being denied consular services, while 23 out of 27 EU member states have a strategic plan and a dedicated coordinator to combat antisemitism – and Belgium has none.

“I understand that the mirror the American ambassador held up to you is not a comfortable one – but perhaps this is an opportunity to look into it carefully and acknowledge reality,” Sa’ar concluded.

In a further gesture of solidarity, Ambassador White subsequently invited Sa’ar to join him on his upcoming visit to Antwerp.

Support came from multiple other quarters as well. Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun – a Lubavitch chossid serving as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism – publicly backed White’s message, writing that he “absolutely concurs with the Ambassador, President, and Secretary.”

The office of Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Kalman Bar issued a statement saying that the restrictions being imposed on bris mila constitute “a severe blow to fundamental rights that evokes a feeling of persecution from years gone by.”

Jewish leaders have consistently pointed to practical models already functioning elsewhere in Europe. In Germany, following a 2012 court ruling that briefly threatened to criminalize circumcision, the government moved swiftly to pass legislation explicitly permitting trained mohalim to perform the procedure under regulated conditions.

The United Kingdom has operated a Mohel Initiation Society for over 300 years. The Conference of European Rabbis has established a Union of Mohelim of Europe to develop a continent-wide system of self-regulation and accreditation. Commissioner Várhelyi is expected to visit the Antwerp Jewish community in the coming weeks to continue pressing for a resolution.

“I repeat my call to the health minister to accept the outstretched hand of the Jewish community to find a solution and regulate the practice,” said MP Freilich. “Other countries such as Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom have shown it is possible, and we must do the same here.”

For many in the Belgian Jewish community, the mohalim case has reopened deep anxieties that have been building for years. Belgium is already among several European countries to have banned shechita, with Flanders’ prohibition having taken effect on January 1st.

The European Jewish Association called the mohel raids “a dangerous escalation,” warning that “following the ban on kosher shechita, the intimidation of mohalim marks another red line crossed.”

Ralph Pais, vice-chair of the Jewish Information and Documentation Centre, described Ambassador White’s post as “a huge bomb,” adding: “America continues to uphold a promise that Europe also pledged to keep: safeguarding Jewish life and ensuring that Jews can live openly and securely. We expect Belgium to fully comply with the very principles and democratic values it professes to uphold.”